


Jailbuddies in the past

by Hessy, Maeve_Lynn



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: Bilingual Character(s), Friendship, Gen, Good friends™, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Magic, Mild Swearing, Self-Harm, Self-Insert, but after hurt only, for now we are just hurting characters, hurt/comfort/more hurt/some comfort/a whole lot of hurt/some more comfort, maybe a little more hurt than we originally intended, obligatory self insert fic that every author must have, we wrote this instead of stuDYING like we were totally supposed to be doing, well there will be some fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:25:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 109,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23430124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hessy/pseuds/Hessy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_Lynn/pseuds/Maeve_Lynn
Summary: Tess and Lynn decide to spend their holidays in London after taking their exams. Two girls, a beautiful city and lots of things to do and see. But not everything always goes as planned and they're in for the journey of a lifetime. Not just figuratively.
Comments: 55
Kudos: 13





	1. Two big kids go on an adventure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely people! Here are the joined efforts of Hessy and Maeve_Lynn's shared braincell, prompted by a hilarious conversation on Discord.  
> There will be some adult content but we will add an additional warning in the A/N where it applies

It was a beautiful day outside and Tess Nová was spending it in the classroom. She was slaving over an exam. When she first came to the Netherlands as an Erasmus student from the Czech Republic, she never thought that learning Dutch would be this hard. English was fine, but she spent years trying to improve her grammar and be at least fluent in it, otherwise, she was completely hopeless in languages, so it was understandable that Dutch was her arch-nemesis now. But, since she was an Erasmus student, it was required of her to take Dutch lessons for at least one semester, so here she was, trying to remember if the word for “horse” was “paard” or “ezel”. 

From time to time, she would sigh, look briefly out of the window and wish for the exam to be over. Then, her gaze would shift to the large clock that was above the door to the classroom, and hang her head to look at the exam paper again, and wonder if “hardlopen” was really the correct verb. 

Tess looked over her exam paper before she turned it in. She spent the last few minutes doodling horses and she’d be lucky to even pass this course. 

“Hey, Tess, wanna hang out?” a classmate yelled at her from the other side of the classroom, swinging her bag over her shoulder. Tess shook her head and showed her a suitcase that stood next to her desk. 

“Sorry, I can’t today. I’m meeting Lynn, you know, my student buddy,” she apologized. The Erasmus students spent most of their time together since they were all alone in a foreign country, some even not speaking the language, but they had each other to talk to about all the problems they had encountered in the Netherlands. 

Tess’ classmate shrugged and after bidding everyone goodbye, she left. Tess re-did her short ponytail and grasped her suitcase. Apart from this last exam she had just finished, this was going to be a great week. 

She first met Lynn when she arrived in the Netherlands. She was just a lost young woman, barely out of her teens, who had come to study at the Maastricht University. Lynn was her assigned student guide and the two girls quickly became buddies. What’s more, they both studied history and therefore, they had more than a few very nice conversations about their chosen study program. 

Now, the two of them were planning to spend some days in the United Kingdom, to get their minds off school and never-ending exams. Tess was already prepared. Instead of studying like she was totally supposed to be doing, she packed her suitcase. When she left the dorm this morning, she took it with her so she wouldn’t have to return to the dorm. 

Tess, just like Lynn, preferred to be not only on time, but a little early, but, when she looked at the clock, thinking how it’s nice that the exam ended early, she gasped. She was already late! And as she and Lynn didn’t have much time to catch the train after the end of the exam even if it ended on time, she sprinted out of the classroom in joy (who wouldn’t be glad to get out of the torture room) and almost fell from the stairs in her hurry. Fortunately, there was a wall that stopped her fall. Tess shook her head to get the stars out of her vision and continued on her way downstairs. 

Lynn had been looking forward to this day for weeks. She had already taken her last exam the day before, so she had enough time left to pack her stuff for her trip with Tess. Her parents had agreed to it, knowing that their daughter would be old and wise enough to take care of herself while being in another country. 

While Tess slept at a dorm especially built for Erasmus students, she rented a room in the city of Maastricht. It was close enough to the university to go there on foot. She had already thought about what to take with her and the only thing she had to do now, was getting her suitcase and put everything in it. She looked at her clock at the wall and saw that Tess would be done with her exam within an hour. She needed to hurry if she wanted to be there on time. Taking the train was always horrible, taking in mind that a lot of times there were some problems with the rails.

“Well, the Netherlands is famous for that,” she mumbled to herself. At that moment, her phone rang. Picking it up, she saw that her parents called her by Skype. 

“Hey dad, hey mom!” she said. They talked for about twenty minutes, which was short in their terms, and then they hang up. Lynn took her bag and suitcase and walked to the university. She and Tess had agreed to meet each other at the front part of the main entrance because that was closer to the train station. 

“Hey, Lynn! Are you ready for your trip?” She looked at her left and saw some of her classmates. 

“Yes! I’m so ready for it! After all those exams and homework I could use some rest and fun. What about you? Any plans for the upcoming week?” Two of her friends would stay at home and visit some places with their families, another one would go on holiday to Germany with her parents and siblings and the other one would meet with friends. They said each other goodbye and Lynn checked her phone again. 

She hoped Tess would be on time. The train wouldn’t wait for them. Another ten minutes passed, but there was still no sign of her friend. They had enough time to catch the train, but Lynn preferred to be there at least fifteen minutes before the train would leave. She looked at the people passing by and enjoyed the sun. She didn’t mind waiting, but she couldn’t wait to start their journey.

A few moments later, Tess came barreling down the stairs, gasping for breath. She almost crashed into Lynn and leant forward so she could replenish her air supply better. 

“Sorry I’m late,” she gasped, breathing hard. “The exam took longer than expected.” 

Lynn smirked, folding her arms on her chest. 

“Admit it, you spent so much time trying to remember the difference between “slapen” and “slaap”,” she teased her friend. Tess puffed out her cheeks. 

“I didn’t! I actually know that one!” she protested and straightened herself. For Tess’ sake, or more precisely, for the sake of her mental state, the two friends always spoke in English (except for the few times when Lynn tried to teach her Dutch). Tess was glad she could understand and Lynn always welcomed a chance to improve her English. 

The two of them set off to the train station. They walked fast. Just as they rounded the corner of the street, Lynn turned to Tess. 

“Did you buy your ticket?” Tess nodded. She was a responsible young adult and even with her limited Dutch skills, she knew how to buy train tickets online (also, the fact that the website had an option to change it into English helped a lot). Lynn could use her travel card and since she had already put some money on it, she could travel to England easily. 

“Of course,” Tess said. “I have it in my... “ She stopped in her tracks, looking horrified. “I have the ticket… in my laptop… in the dorm!” she exclaimed, panicking not only internally, but also externally. Lynn sighed exasperatedly and put her hand on Tess’ shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. 

“Relax, you’ve got it in your e-mail, right?” Instantly, Tess stopped her little panic attack (meaning that it, in fact, wasn’t a real panic attack, but she was familiar with them) and fished her phone out of her bag. 

“I think I do?” she said, her tone sounding suspiciously like a question. She unlocked her phone and turned on the internet. It didn’t take her even ten seconds to sign in her e-mail and finding the ticket. With a quiet victorious cry, she downloaded it in PDF. 

They had only six minutes to catch the train, so they set off again, walking faster than before. To enter the platforms, they had to scan their ticket and card. Finding the correct platform was easy enough and before they knew it, they were sitting on the train. 

The journey would take about seven hours, more or less. They would arrive in the evening and spend the night at their hotel in the center of London. 

To kill the time, Lynn had taken some books with her, of course from her favourite book series, _Ranger’s Apprentice_. She had lent the first book to Tess, to practice her Dutch, but after trying for several weeks, she had returned the book. 

Now, Tess had her nose in her own book (it was actually a Czech edition of _Ranger’s Apprentice_ , but Lynn didn’t need to know that. When Tess moved to the Netherlands, she took two of her favourite books from the series with her. Now she was reading and the girls didn’t talk that much.

After Lynn finished the last chapter, she put her book away and listened to music. She looked at Tess, who was sleeping, her head laid against the window. Lynn couldn’t help it, but took her phone and made some pictures. Later she would show them to her friend, while Tess would try to catch her phone and delete the awful, but hilarious, images.

At one point, they were already traveling for four hours, they ate their lunches. Lynn had prepared some pasta salad and shared it with Tess, who really enjoyed it. She had a few sandwiches in her bag so she tried to offer Lynn some, but since they only laid around doing nothing, Lynn politely refused. 

After lunch, they chatted for a while and then returned to their own things. Tess looked out of the window. In it, she saw Lynn’s reflection and, assuming she was sleeping, tried to take some pictures of her. 

“Try it, and you’ll regret it,” Lynn said with closed eyes. Tess shook her head. Then, an idea came up in her mind. She knew that when Lynn listened to music, she couldn’t hear anything. That would be her only chance to get some funny pictures of her friend. 

And indeed, about half an hour later, Lynn was listening to music and not paying attention to what happened around her. Tess got what she wanted and, as not to seem guilty, also listened to music. 

Hours passed by and they would almost arrive. 

“Tess, wake up. We’re almost there!” Tess opened her eyes and looked up. Lynn was right, the train was near London Central Station. They packed their belongings, ready to leave the train as soon as it stopped. Ten minutes later, they heard a voice: “Goede avond beste reizigers. Wij naderen station London en over enkele minuten komen wij aan op perron 1. Mocht u de trein verlaten, neemt u dan al uw bagage mee. Namens mij en mijn collega’s wens ik u een fijne avond en graag tot ziens.” 

Tess did understand something, but she was glad to hear an English translation as well. “Good evening dear passengers. We’re approaching London Station and within several minutes we will arrive at platform 1. When you leave the train, please remember to take all your baggage with you. My colleagues and I wish you a nice evening and hope to see you soon.” 

They stood up, took their bags and suitcases and headed to the doors. Some other passengers followed them and when the train almost stopped, Tess pressed the button to open the doors. The train had stopped, but the doors were still closed. Smirking, Lynn pressed the button again and now they opened. 

“What was that about?” Tess asked when they walked towards the entrance. 

“A typical mistake a lot of foreigners make: as long as the train is still moving, you can’t open the doors. You really need to wait until the train isn’t moving anymore. Only then the button works,” Lynn explained. Tess looked at her, and wondered if her friend was making a joke or not. 

At the entrance to the train station, they stopped to look around. It was still light, but soon it would become dark. 

“I propose to bring our stuff to the hotel and then look for a place to eat.” Tess nodded and turned on her phone to use Google Maps. Luckily, the hotel was close and within fifteen minutes they arrived at the reception. 

“Good evening, ladies. How can I help you?” the woman behind the desk asked. 

“We made a reservation for two persons,” Tess answered. 

“And on which name did you book the room?” 

“On the surname ‘Jonker’,” replied Lynn. The lady nodded, wrote something on her computer and handed them the key. 

“Here is the key to your room. My colleague will help you with your luggage.” A man, they thought he would be mid-twenty, came around the corner and offered to take their suitcases.

They walked towards a lift and at the second level they stepped out. The girls followed the man until he stopped at a door with number ‘21’ on it. 

“Your room, ladies. If you need any help, you can find a phone in the room with numbers of the reception, as well as our room service. I wish you a good evening,” he said and then returned to the reception. 

There were two beds in the room. One was close to a wall, the second one stood just under the window. It didn’t take a second after the door closed for the girls to look at each other, and yell: “I’m calling dibs on the bed closer to the wall!” Lynn didn’t hesitate and ran to the bed and jumped on it. Tess, who was slower than her, pouted and took her belongings to the bed that was just next to the window. She never liked the sunlight that shone into her face, waking her up. But Lynn had already claimed the second bed as hers, so Tess put her suitcase next to the bed, cursing quietly in Czech. Unfortunately, after hearing her swear in her native language a few times already, Lynn knew perfectly well what she was saying. After all, curse words were the first thing a person learns in another language. 

“You’re not going to unpack?” Lynn asked, crouching over her bag. Tess reached into her own bag for a charger and shook her head. 

“Nope, we’re only staying here for a few days. I’ll only unpack the essentials,” she said, taking out her book. She put it on the bedside table next to the small lamp that was there. 

In order to save time, she also unpacked her toothbrush, along with toothpaste, and put it into the bathroom. The bathroom was small, but it would suffice. 

“I still have one sandwich left,” Tess commented as she took a look into her bag. She reached for the food and showed it to Lynn with a big smile. Her friend studied the sandwich and then, her face turned a slight shade of blue. No way she’d eat that, even if Tess was willing to share it! No normal person had a stomach strong enough for Tess’ combination of jam, honey, ham and cheese in one sandwich. How could Tess herself eat _that_ and not have stomach ache, Lynn didn’t know. She also didn’t want to know. In the first few weeks of their friendship, she discovered that Tess had an astounding amount of weird habits, but this was just next-level crazy. 

“Maybe we can order take out?” Lynn suggested when she managed to fight down the sudden urge to vomit at the very sight of the sandwich. “And put that _thing_ away, please.” Tess looked absolutely devastated but complied. She didn’t want her friend to get sick. 

“Alright, I can eat it tomorrow as a snack,” she said, putting the sandwich into the drawer of her bedside table. 

“And don’t talk about it,” Lynn said through gritted teeth. Tess just shrugged. She was missing out, but she knew that everyone had different tastes so she didn’t push the issue. 

She stood up and looked out of the window. The city of London was just getting dark, blue shadows falling over the streets and the street lighting getting switched on. It was a beautiful sight and Tess didn’t hesitate in calling Lynn to go look. Both girls cooed at the sight. 

“What do you say on going out to eat?” Tess asked, already picking up her phone. Lynn sat on her friend’s bed and looked on the screen. The small brunette had Google maps open, trying to calculate the fastest way to the bank of the Thames. 

“I thought we were going out to eat,” she said. After a long day of doing nothing but sleeping, reading and listening to music, she was already feeling hunger settling in her stomach. It was high time to find something _edible_ (no, not the sandwich, thank you very much). 

“We are,” Tess confirmed. “I was just thinking we could go for a stroll along the river.” Lynn looked at her like she was crazy. It was like she was going to facepalm, but then she said: “Je bent een leerling, die moeten niet denken.” Tess frowned at her. Even though she had problems with her Dutch, she understood this sentence perfectly. First of all, it was in the book Lynn tried to get her to read, secondly, she always said that when she suggested or did anything even remotely stupid and started her excuse with “I thought”. 

Tess closed the Google maps and opened the search engine itself, finding a Chinese restaurant quickly and efficiently. It was also located just a few blocks away from their hotel. She showed the phone to Lynn. 

“What about this one. Do you wanna go check it out?” Her friend studied the screen for a moment and nodded. 

“Let me just get my jumper. It could get cold when we take that stroll.”

They left their things in their room and took the lift downstairs. The receptionist was watching them carefully like a hawk but relaxed when she recognized them. The girls left the building in the search of the restaurant. 

They got lost. Tess took a wrong turn and Lynn had to wonder how that girl even managed to find her dorm back in Maastricht. She was absolutely hopeless and claimed that she inherited her bad sense of direction from her grandmother. On top of that, once they got out the Google maps, they discovered that they had been walking in the wrong direction. A heartfelt debate as to whether they should turn around and try again or continue and eventually (hopefully) find another restaurant, started. 

“This is a city as big as a cow!” Tess argued. Lynn lifted her eyebrow. “As a cow?” she repeated, confused. 

“Really big,” Tess explained, frowning. She looked a little guilty; she didn’t think (just as Lynn said; she wasn’t yet ready to think) and translated a Czech saying literally. 

“My point is, like, whichever way we go, there’s always gonna be some restaurant.” 

“That’s true but not everything will be open now,” Lynn argued. It was nearing nine o’clock in the evening and while it was the end of spring and the beginning of summer and the light remained until almost ten o’clock, some restaurants were open only till eight. 

Tess waved her arms uncertainty. 

“Still, if we can’t find anything, there will be a Tesco open or something,” she countered. Tess never liked Tesco, it was her least favourite supermarket chain back home, but she knew there was a ton of them in the UK and there just had to be one that was open. 

Lynn sighed at seeing her friend messing around to find her words and their way. She looked around and pointed back with her thumb. 

“Let’s go back and see if we can get something to eat. Maybe some restaurant is still open or otherwise, we can go to the hotel. I think that there was a restaurant as well. Or at least a dining room where we can have dinner.” 

Lynn turned around and walked already back, followed by Tess. When the girls walked next to each other, Lynn put an arm around her friend. 

“Don’t worry Tess, we’ll be fine. It could happen to anyone!” Tess didn’t look at her friend but at the ground. She felt sorry for getting lost in the city and with the possibility that they wouldn’t have dinner. 

“I’m just a clumsy idiot,” she mumbled. Immediately she felt how Lynn embraced her to make her feel better. 

“If there’s one idiot, it’d be me. I’m the one who always attracts bad luck, remember?” Tess smiled. Yes, Lynn always ended up in strange situations and when it happened, the girl's face became as red as a tomato. Tess felt much better now and glanced to her right. A bright light coming from an Italian restaurant almost blinded her. 

“Let’s try that!” she said and Lynn looked at the restaurant. 

“Yeah, why not? I’m starving for a pizza right now.” They entered the place and waited for a waitress to come. 

“Good evening. How can I help you?” 

“We would like to have a table for two, please,” Lynn replied. 

“If you have a moment, I will see if there is a table left for you.” After saying that, she walked around to see if she could find a free table. Then, she returned and asked them to follow her.

In a corner, there was a free place where Lynn and Tess could sit. They took the menus and thought about what they wanted to eat and drink. Just as they put the menus down, a waiter showed up next to their table. 

“Good evening, can I help you?” he asked. Both nodded and ordered a drink. They were still thinking about their meals; Tess wasn’t sure if she wanted pasta or pizza and Lynn was choosing between two pizzas. 

“Lynn, what do you want? I can’t choose between pasta pesto or the pizza pepperoni.” 

Lynn looked up to answer her. “I think I go for pizza pollo.” She laid her menu down, as a sign that she was ready to order. 

After a minute or two, Tess made her choice. “I’ll take the pasta pesto.” The waiter showed up again, this time writing down what they wanted to eat and he told them it would be done within some minutes. 

“Lynn, look at that!” Tess said after fifteen minutes. Behind Lynn, the man brought their pasta and pizza and placed it in front of them. 

“Buon appetito!” he said, before walking to another table. The whole evening the friends talked and after paying the bill (Lynn insisted on paying it while Tess wanted to split it) they went back to the hotel. Tired of the journey and full of the food, they changed into their pajamas and sat on Lynn her bed. They watched some TV, but at 1 am Lynn was very tired. 

“Tess, can you go to your own bed? I want to sleep.” The only thing she heard, was soft snoring. 

“Tess, c’mon, don’t pretend to sleep!” But her friend was really sleeping. Lynn sighed, got out of bed and put the blankets of Tess’ bed. Then she put her friend into her own bed, laid the blankets on top of her and went into her own bed. After yawning, she turned on her other side and fell asleep. 

The next morning Lynn got up earlier than she wished to. Tess was still sleeping, so she did as silent as she could. She took a shower and dressed herself. By the time Tess woke up, Lynn was almost ready to go downstairs for breakfast. 

“Hurry up,” she said to Tess. “We only have one hour left to get something to eat before they close it.” 

Tess looked at her, a bit confused. “Why are you telling me to hurry up if we have a whole hour left?” Lynn rolled her eyes. 

“Because you’re always slow. That’s why I’m telling you to get dressed.” To prove her wrong, Tess went to the bathroom, cleaned her face and put on some jeans and a T-shirt. 

“Done!” she said. “Let’s go then! We have until 11 am,” Lynn replied. Tess didn’t move. “Hold on. Until 11 am?” She looked at her phone and saw that it was almost 9 am. “Tak to si vypiješ! Get back here!” 

Lynn ran towards the lift, but Tess was a bit faster. 

“Ha! First one!” Tess smirked. Lynn didn’t replied, but on her face there was a slight presence of pain. 

“It’s your knee again, isn’t it?” Tess asked when they went down with the lift. 

“Just a little bit, but nothing to worry about. I can go for walks and so on.” Tess nodded. If Lynn said she was doing fine, then she was. After breakfast, they went outside to go and visit some places. 

“Okay, what’s first on our list?” Tess was already looking at her phone to find it. 

“Let’s see, there’s the Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace... A lot of things to do.” They went through some more options and made a list of what they wanted to do and see. 

The next two days they walked for hours through the city and visited museums, tourist places and also some nice cafés. On the evening of the second day, Lynn was on her phone, when she found a flyer about a fair. 

“Hey Tess, listen. There will be a fair tomorrow, quite close to the hotel. Wanna go there?” Tess didn’t respond and soon Lynn saw why. She took her pillow and threw it across the room. 

“Why did you do that?” Tess said indignantly. Lynn had walked towards her and gave Tess her phone. 

“Seems nice,” was her reply. Lynn sat on her bed and Tess was in for a joke. 

“Hey Lynn, catch!” As soon as she heard these words, Lynn turned around and saw her phone flying to her. Without a lot of effort, she caught it, laid it on her nightstand and put it in the charger.

“It’s big, isn’t it?” Lynn said, glancing at all the small stands around them. Everywhere they looked, they saw men and women selling their crafts and merchandise. They had already walked for twenty minutes, but it didn’t seem like they were even on a quarter of the stands. 

Lynn was looking for something nice to buy for herself and Tess, as a memory for the trip. At that point, Tess pulled her arm and pointed at a stand, a bit away from the others.

“Not a lot of people are going to that one. Shall we find out why?” Lynn shrugged. Why not? They headed to the woman behind the stand and greeted her. Tess thought she was not only old but also kinda odd? But also very friendly, as they soon found out.

“Tess, look at these bracelets!” Tess was looking at some necklaces when Lynn called her. 

“They’re beautiful! And so detailed. It must have taken some time to make them,” she said to the lady. 

“That’s right dear. I made them all by myself. You see, my mother used to make them and one day she learned me how to do it. She also told me that those bracelets shouldn’t be made out of a need for money or because I have to. They must be made with passion and love for the people around you. I’ll be honest with you two: this is just a hobby of mine. I really like making them and selling them to families, friends, people who want to have a memory from their holidays or their trip.” Impressed by her story, they wanted to buy two bracelets. 

“If I may,” she said and took a box from under her table. “Every bracelet is unique, you won’t find two the same in my stand. But, there was a time that I dreamed to meet two girls, together on a trip. I had been ages since then, but when I saw you two coming to my stand, I had to think of it again.” 

Curious and slightly wary, they saw how the lady took the lid off and showed them what was inside. There were two bracelets, almost identical. 

Confused, Lynn looked at the woman. “But, didn’t you just tell that you never made the same one?” To her surprise, she laughed. 

“Oh dear, I never said that! I said that you won’t find the same on my stand. That’s something different, isn’t it?” Lynn blushed. Yes, she was right. 

Tess couldn’t take her eyes of the items in the box. “What ya think Lynn?” With puppy eyes, she looked at her friend. 

“They’re indeed lovely,” she said slowly. After a minute, she made a decision. “We would like to buy these two please.” 

“A perfect choice, if I may say. I made them for two close friends and you seem to fit perfectly.” She asked them to reach out their hands and she put the bracelets on. 

“Here you are, ma’am. You may keep the change, then you can buy some more yarn to make bracelets.” The girls said goodbye and when they were almost out of sight, the woman smiled at them with a soft smile. 

Tess and Lynn continued walking around the fair. Lynn wanted to go to a shooting range so she could win an enormous teddy bear, but after the first round, she discovered that it’s just one big fraud, and refused to participate in a second round. 

Tess was excited to try bumper cars. At first, she and Lynn got separate cars and tried to crash into as many other cars as they could, but mainly they tried to catch up to each other and corner themselves. When they paid for a second round, they got a hot pink car with flames on its side and made it a point to crash into as many other unsuspecting people as they could. They had lots of fun and while Tess wanted to go for a third round, Lynn pointed at a Ferris wheel. 

“We should go on that! Euh, big wheel,” Lynn said, forgetting the English word and trying to describe it instead. 

Tess frowned, but then she started laughing. “You mean the Ferris wheel?” Lynn stuck her tongue out. 

“Yeah, that,” she confirmed. They looked at each other and started walking in the direction of the Ferris wheel. Since they weren’t native speakers, such mishaps happened fairly regularly. For example, Tess sometimes said things out of order or started talking in another language out of blue. Lynn had a tendency to say Dutch words in the middle of the sentence and she only found out when Tess raised her eyebrows in question because she didn’t understand. However, they could still understand each other well enough. They even started to learn the basics of each other’s language (well, Tess had already taken a Dutch course, but you don’t learn any swear words at school).

They bought the tickets and sat in a compartment. They looked in awe as they went up. London lay below them in all its glory. While this Ferris wheel wasn’t nearly as big as the London Eye, it was still a stunning view. 

“This is just amazing,” Tess breathed out. She was glad that she agreed to go on this trip. In fact, she had plans to go home to see her family after such a long time in the Netherlands, but her mother came up with a plan to go to their grandmother so they wouldn’t be at home anyway. 

After getting off, they bought a giant pastel pink cotton candy. While they got their fingers all sugary, they were strolling between the different stands, slowly turning in the direction of their hotel. If they cared enough to look, they’d find out that the stand of the old lady who sold them the bracelets was gone. 

The girls stopped at that Chinese restaurant they were going to check out the first evening. It wasn’t far from both the fair and their hotel, so after a nice portion of noodles and rice, they walked back to their hotel. They were both tired. After spending two whole days on their feet walking around London (they must’ve walked at least 30 kilometres) their legs hurt and Tess felt like her feet would melt in her shoes any second now. She was used to walking barefoot. Lynn had some incredible endurance but even she was beginning to feel tired. 

They had no energy to watch TV that evening. Since it was a warm evening, Tess washed her hair and didn’t blow-dry it, letting it dry naturally instead. Lynn took a nice long shower and they both changed into comfortable pyjamas. It was an amazing feeling, being able to lay down after walking all day. 

“Slaap lekker,” Lynn mumbled, hidden beneath her duvet. Tess was curled up on her bed and mumbled back: “Dobrou noc.” 

Lynn was sleeping peacefully when she felt a ray of light on her eyes. That wasn’t possible, she thought in her dream. Tess was the one who was unfortunate to have the bed below the window. The rays couldn’t reach _her_. She tried to roll over to get the light out of her face when she felt something soft. Irritated, she opened her eyes and gasped. How the heck did Tess get here? 

She then realized that they weren’t in their hotel room anymore. She nudged her friend, hard enough to wake her up. Tess squinted and tried to get away. She was only half-awake at that point but Lynn didn’t let her. 

“Tess, wake up!” she whispered into her ear. The younger girl sat up, suddenly awake, her eyes scanning the room in panic. She opened her mouth but Lynn put her hand over it to silence her. 

The room they were in was nothing like their hotel room in which they fell asleep. This looked like Tess’ grandmother’s attic, there was wood everywhere. Wooden floor, wooden furniture, the window admittedly had glass in it but otherwise, it looked like an open-air folklife museum. Tess had visited one of those a few years ago and this room looked a lot like the ones in the museum. But that couldn’t be, the museum showed how people lived hundreds of years ago. They were in the 21st century. Did someone kidnap them? 

She looked at Lynn, fear clearly visible in her eyes. Lynn returned the look, confusion mixing with fear in her expression. It was clear that she also had no idea how they got there. 

There was only that one bed they woke up in, three stools, a table, and a closet. It had a very medieval look to it. The beams were decaying, the floor would surely squeak if they stood on it. 

“Where are we?” Tess whispered, afraid that they could accidentally wake up their kidnapper or whatever got them here in the first place. She quietly tried to take off their duvet and was surprised how heavy it was. 

Both girls gasped in surprise when they saw what exactly they were wearing. They no longer had their comfortable pyjamas on. Instead, they both had sweatpants, comfortable shoes (in the BED) and a T-shirt (Lynn had a long-sleeved maroon shirt and Tess had a bright pink baggy T-shirt from her last karate summer camp). In addition, their jumpers were on the table. Also, a bow and a quiver full of arrows were leaning on the table’s leg. 

Tess felt the space around her, but she had no personal belongings with her. No phone, no wallet, nothing, not even the friendship bracelet they had bought the day before. Only Lynn seemed to keep her necklace in the shape of an oakleaf. She was really proud of it and she never took it off. The older girl jumped out of the bed and grimaced when the floor squeaked. 

“That’s my bow! How did it get here?” she asked, but no one could answer her. No one knew. The most important thing right now was that they were in a strange place without virtually anything, and all alone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also English isn't the native language of either of us, so excuse some mistakes you see along the Path of suffering™ please


	2. Enter: the Rangers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone gets up to no good in Caraway fief...

Two men rode on their horses through the woods. Soon they would head towards the main road. The younger of the two kept looking around and you could see he was excited. The other man, a few years older, looked at his companion and sighed. Every mile they came closer to their destination, the boy seemed to double his energy. 

“Can you please calm down? It’s getting on my nerves,” he said with a played angry voice. Immediately the boy quit fidgeting. He had known the man for a couple of months now, but he still couldn’t tell when he was making a joke or not. 

“Sorry Halt, I’m just way too excited to see my parents again and tell them everything I've learned! Maybe I can even train a bit with my father and show him that I made some progress with my sword lessons,” he replied. Halt meant it as a joke, but he saw that his apprentice had become insecure because of the remark. 

“I didn’t mean it that way Gilan. Of course, it’s normal you’re like this. You haven’t seen them for months and you want to share what you did.” Halt saw Gilan smiling when the boy heard these words. He thought back to the moment he took him as his apprentice. Battlemaster David was surprised when the Ranger told him about his son’s plans to join the Corps. He had always thought that Gilan would become an excellent knight and would succeed him as battlemaster. Gilan wasn’t sure how his father would react, so he had asked Halt to check his thoughts first. While sir David had to think about it, his mother was glad that her son expressed his thoughts and future. Yes, the life of a Ranger wasn’t easy and the training would be tough, but if Gilan was willing to do it, then why not? Also, Sir David agreed, but he wasn’t fond of the news that Gilan had to move from Caraway fief to Redmont fief. In the first months of his training, Gilan wrote letters to his parents and also received some from time to time. He was beyond happiness when Halt told him that they could visit them for a couple of days. And here they were, almost at the castle. Since his father was the battlemaster, they owned a quite big apartment with a beautiful view. 

“Halt, look!” The voice of Gilan brought the Ranger back and he could see the first signs of the castle. 

“What do you think-” He had barely finished his sentence or Gilan already encouraged Blaze to increase her speed. 

“I wasn’t finished! This isn’t a fair start!” Halt yelled. Gilan looked behind and smirked. 

“As you always say: life isn’t fair!” Then, he glanced back to the castle and laid down to go even faster. Halt had the same idea and slowly he caught up with the boy. Head to head they closed the distance, until the moment they reached the fields. 

“Slow down Gilan!” Halt screamed. “Otherwise they think there’s something going on!” Gilan raised his hand as a sign that he had heard him and waited until Halt rode next to him. Together they entered the bridge, but as soon as Halt saw the guards, he sighed. 

“Let’s see how long it will take this time. Wanna make a bet?” Gilan knew what would happen if he lost the bet (until now he always had lost), but he knew the guards better than Halt. Also, he thought, they were now at his home. So there couldn’t be any consequences for him. 

“Well?” his mentor asked. Gilan analyzed the situation and made a decision. 

“I bet that we can enter the castle without having to identify ourselves.” Halt nodded. 

“And what will happen if you win?” Gilan had to think of that. He could ask anything, but he didn’t want to do something too demeaning. Halt would take revenge for that. 

“I can choose what we’ll eat for dinner, a whole week!” 

“Seems fair,” the Ranger replied. They walked on the bridge and it looked like that Gilan would win, but in the very last second, one of the guards stopped them. 

“Could you please identify yourselves?” Gilan couldn’t believe it. He had seen how Rangers were allowed to enter the castle without any problems because their clothes, horses, and attire were enough reasons to assume it was indeed a Ranger. But then he remembered that after the war a lot of things had changed and that the people had become more careful. He cursed when Halt took out his silver oakleaf. 

“And how about that boy?” the other guard asked. Halt didn’t reply. Instead, Gilan showed his face and the guards stood there, speechless. After a few seconds, they apologized for the mistake and welcomed the son of the battlemaster at his home. Passing them, Gilan was sure Halt was looking at him with a devilish smile. 

“I lost,” Gilan said when they brushed their horses. “What do you have in mind?” Halt scratched his beard. 

“I’m still thinking about what to choose. I’ll let you know when I made my decision.” 

“Sure you will,” the apprentice mumbled quietly. Afterwards, they walked to the courtyard where a man was waiting for them. It was the best friend of his father, Sir George. 

“George!” Gilan gave him a firm handshake and George introduced himself to the Ranger. “The name’s George. I've known Sir David for some years now and this young troublemaker since the day he was born.” The insult was friendly and Gilan didn’t mind. He knew the man was right, but that was okay. He saw George as his uncle and he was always glad to see him again. 

“Look at you! You’ve grown so much since the last time I saw you.” Right after the war, George had to deal with some clusters of Wargals in the eastern part of the fief and therefore he hadn’t seen the boy. When he returned to the castle, he heard that just a week earlier Gilan had started his training with Halt. 

“We can stay here all day, but I think some persons wouldn’t like that.” They went inside and walked through the corridors and later took the stairs. 

“David, look who’s here!” they heard. Some meters in front of them, a tall and beautiful woman spread her arms to welcome her son. 

“Mother!” With no shame, Gilan ran towards her and embraced her. He had missed her voice, the smell of her perfume, and the way she always greeted him. “O Gilly, I’m so glad to see you again!” She took his head into her hands and looked into his eyes. 

“Look at you. So young, but already growing into a handsome young man. Just like your father.” Sir David was still inside and walked to the door. A bit uncomfortable, Gilan walked to his father. He knew his father didn’t like hugs, so he wanted to give him a hand. However, after missing his son for several months, he didn’t care. He embraced his son, who was surprised by the gesture. 

“I missed you Gilan. But don’t tell you mother, or she will tease me with it,” he whispered in his ear.

“I missed you too, father,” the boy replied. 

Sir David ushered Gilan inside and turned to Halt. The Ranger stood a few feet away from the door, but once Gilan was out of sight, the two men shook hands. 

“It’s good to see you again, Halt,” he said. “I hope the boy doesn’t give you too many problems.” Halt let go of his hand. 

“I have another grey hair,” he commented. “Weird, I only started getting them after I got to know him.” 

They both knew that Halt was unusually young for a Ranger, at least for a Ranger with an apprentice (heck, if he completed a proper five-year Ranger training, he would be barely out of apprenticeship himself). The age gap between Halt and Gilan wasn’t that big, however, David wouldn’t think for a moment that Halt would let Gilan boss him around. 

The battlemaster realized that he stood in the doorway and moved so that he made some space if Halt wanted to go inside. 

“Do you want to go in?” he asked, even though he knew very well that the Ranger wouldn’t want to disturb the family. He still had hope, the two of them hadn’t seen each other in ages (well, at least since Halt had taken Gilan as his apprentice). David missed the occasional conversations they had when Halt rarely came to visit. It was refreshing to have someone who wasn’t a knight around. 

“No,” Halt replied. “I will go visit Farrel, see how he’s doing.” David nodded sadly. He was thinking that the Ranger could stay for a while, catch up a bit and then go. Well, maybe next time.

“You’re still invited to dinner,” he said, watching as Halt stopped in his tracks and replied quietly: “I might take you up on that offer.” He then walked briskly to where Abelard was. David shook his head. That was typical of Halt; he never gave a straight answer. 

The battlemaster hurried to join his family. His wife, Marlee, was listening to Gilan who was telling her about all the things he’d learned so far. It was so sweet, watching them being so immersed in the storytelling that they didn’t even notice him coming into the room. 

Marlee sometimes stopped Gilan’s story and asked about some things relating to archery or other skills that she wasn’t familiar with. And, both David and Gilan knew this, Marlee was well-versed in many outdoor skills. That was, after all, the reason he fell in love with her. She wasn’t a noble, once upon a time, she was only an ordinary peasant girl who loved to spend her time in the forest. In this respect, Gilan must’ve taken after her. David’s parents were cross with him when he announced that he loved her and planned to take her as his wife. They were so mad that they disowned him. However, David and Marlee pulled through, had a simple wedding with some guests, and since David was well-known and an excellent knight, they weren’t off half as badly as David’s parents had hoped. 

“Tell me about your horse, Blaze, was it?” she just asked Gilan. The boy started talking enthusiastically about how Blaze requested apples the first things in the morning, stood perfectly still when he was practicing archery and even when he was swinging a sword from her back, how she greeted him with a whiny every time he stepped into the stable, and how she provoked Abelard all the time. He was just getting to the part how good of an actress she was when he gave her the order to “panic” when Marlee came down with a fit of coughing. 

“Mother, are you alright?” the boy asked, worry lining his features. David was at her side in an instant, leaning over the two of them. 

Marlee stopped coughing. On her palm, there was a red spot. Gilan recognized it. It was blood. However, he didn’t get a chance to ask about it, since Marlee was quick to hide her palm in the bedsheets, staining them. 

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” she said, smiling slightly. Gilan knew something was off, there was something really weird going on, but neither his mother or father addressed the problem, so he decided that he wouldn’t press further if such a fit didn’t happen again. 

“Now, tell me more,” she asked, leaning back so she could lay on the bed.

Gilan looked at her, worry still evident in his face, and continued about his Ranger training. 

* * *

When Halt arrived at Farrel’s cabin, it was empty. No horse was in the stable and no smoke was coming from the chimney. The Ranger wasn’t home. 

Farrel’s leg has healed nicely despite all the mishaps he got up to during the first war with Morgarath and he was able to return to active duty three months after the battle of the Hackham Heath. However, since Halt got assigned to Redmont fief while he was unfit to do his duties, Farrel had to say goodbye to his old fief. Now, he was the Ranger to Caraway fief and he was doing a superb job. 

Halt stopped Abelard and walked to the door. There was a tiny note on it. Halt read it carefully. It seemed that Farrel was away dealing with a murder case and he would return the next day. Halt sighed and mounted Abelard. 

_Off to the woods, again?_ the grey horse asked. He really knew his master well. Halt wouldn’t return to the castle when he said he was going to Farrel. He was going to set up a small camp in the woods, away from civilization, like he was used to. He would show up for that dinner he was invited to, though. 

* * *

Two days later, Gilan’s concern about his mother’s health was growing. He knew she did have other coughing fits, he knew she did. She tried to hide it from her son, thinking that she was doing a good job. But Gilan was a Ranger in training and Halt taught him how to look for details that one would easily miss. 

The evidence of his mother’s illness he found was concerning, to say at least. He noticed drops of blood everywhere. There was dried blood on the table, a spot on the bedsheets, you name it. He noticed Marlee’s loss of weight. She looked so skinny and it wasn’t meant in a healthy way. The paleness of her cheeks became more pronounced every evening they spent together. In the candlelight, she looked more like a ghost than a human. Her eyes were becoming dulled, too, like a proper creature from another life. Gilan noticed this all, yet he couldn’t bring himself to ask her about it. Instead, he spent the evenings in Blaze’s stall, telling her about everything he’s learned about it. 

It was the second night that his mother had fallen on her knees and couldn’t get back up, that’s when Gilan understood just how serious the situation was. He watched helplessly how David carried his mother to their bedroom and tucked her into bed. Her breaths were shallow and her chest barely moved. 

That evening, David sat Gilan at the table. A silence fell over them for a few minutes. It was uncomfortable, not like when he was going to be lectured, no, this was a silence that indicated very grave news. 

David cleared his throat. “Gilan, I’m sure you’ve noticed that there’s something… wrong with your mother,” he started, waiting for the boy to nod his head. That, he certainly did. 

“She didn’t want to worry you as it would distract you from your training, but you must understand. She is very ill. She got the white plague and not even the best doctors believe that she’ll make it through,” he explained. Gilan felt tears in his eyes. He quickly tried to wipe them off, but they just kept coming. He knew what that meant. No one who got the white plague made it out alive. It was a killer disease and now his mother got it. With growing fright, he realized that this might very well be the last time he saw her. 

“Dad,” he choked out. “What will we do?” 

David closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “I am afraid there is nothing we can do, son.” They sat there in silence for a long time, both silently weeping. Marlee may not have been dead yet but it would come, and that terrifying day was coming closer. 

* * *

Meanwhile, Halt was dealing with a new, concerning discovery himself. Farrel had come back and while both Rangers were happy to see each other, Farrel told him about a series of murder cases. Apparently, there’s been a growing number of murders. All of the victims were teenage boys with brown hair. Farrel expressed concern that they all looked a lot like Gilan. 

The murderer was also very intelligent. He didn’t leave many clues and was very careful to cover his tracks. Farrel had been unable to find him so far, and that worried both Rangers.

What was even more terrifying, however, was that the places where the murderer committed these awful crimes, were making an obvious path. A path that led to Castle Caraway, where they currently were. Farrel had been able to gather that much. The murderer didn’t case what tool was used to take his victim’s lives; there were cases of arson, arrows stuck in the chests of the poor boys, some were choked to death. It was an awful sight to look at and Farrel thought that he needed to take care of it as soon as possible. 

“When did the first murders start?” Halt asked him. His wrinkles deepened when Farrel told him that the murders started three days ago. 

“That’s when Gilan and I arrived here,” he said, the tone of his voice worried. A horrifying idea struck him. What if this unknown criminal was after his own apprentice? But, why? 

Farrel looked into the woods with uncertainty. 

“I don’t know how this looks to you, Halt, but I’d say they’re after Gilan.” 

* * *

They didn’t have to wait long to know for sure that Gilan was in danger. After a quick trip to the village that was located near the castle, they discovered that a strange man had asked around about the boy and the Rangers became more aware. Halt hadn’t talked about it with Gilan yet, mainly because he didn’t want to worry the family even more. When he came by for dinner, David talked with him shortly about his wife’s sickness and that she didn’t have much time left. 

Although Halt wanted to go home as soon as possible, he would never forgive himself if Gilan couldn’t say goodbye to his mother in a proper way. Just as the Ranger wanted to talk about the approaching danger, Gilan entered the room, eyes all red and tear streaming down his cheeks. He had been with his mother and she told him that soon she had to leave them. He wasn’t prepared for this. He had already lost his younger siblings and now he had to live without his mother? As soon as David saw him, he hurried to the room. Gilan sat down on the couch and buried his head in his hands. Halt came closer and laid an arm around the boy’s shoulders. 

“Halt, what am I supposed to do? Mother is sick and now dying, Father will be all alone and will have no family around to share his sadness with. And I-” He couldn’t finish his sentence. He felt how Halt embraced him and tried to comfort him. 

“I will be there for you Gilan,” was all he said. “Can- can we stay for her funeral?” He wasn’t prepared for Halt’s answer. 

“I’m so sorry Gilan, but I’m afraid we’re not.” The boy wanted to protest, but at that moment Sir David entered the room. Halt made a choice. 

“Gilan, David: I should have told it immediately, but I didn’t want to worry you more than you already are. I’m sure you heard about the murders.” This question was for sir David and he nodded. 

“I really hope Farrel and I are wrong, but it seems like the murderer is after Gilan.” Gilan was confused, but the knight wasn’t as shocked. “I already had a feeling when Farrel told me how much the boys looked like Gilan, but now.” He looked at his son and then walked to his friend. 

“I wished both of you could stay longer, and that Gilan could be there to say farewell, but his safety is now a priority. Halt, promise me that you will do everything to protect him and bring him safely to Redmont.” Halt looked into the man’s eyes and, as it was common when you make a promise, he grabbed the knight’s right lower arm. 

“I promise that I will take care of Gilan and I will do anything to keep him safe.” At that moment, an alarm bell rang. 

“Alarm! Intruder in the castle!” a guard yelled. Everyone knew what that meant. Both Halt and David prepared themselves to go after him. Gilan wanted to go as well, but his father stopped him. “No, stay here and protect your mother. You know what to do when danger is near.” 

Those words were told many times before and Gilan knew exactly what to do. When his father and the Ranger left the apartment, he locked the door and closed all windows. Not a lot of people knew it, but there was a small, secret door in their home. From the outside, no one could see it, but if you entered it, you came to a small room. Enough place to move around, with some food and water to survive a couple of hours. Gilan took his bow and quiver (he had his knives always with him) and headed to his mother. 

“Come on mother, we need to go!” Then, when a loud bang, the front door almost broke into two. 

“Gilan, you have to go alone. I will die anyway, but you have to live. Go and hide! I will distract him.” With tears in his eyes, he kissed his mother, knowing it would be the last time. She hugged him tightly and whispered some words in his ear. Another bang on the door. The secret door was in her room, but you had to press the right place to make open it. Once inside, you could lock it, so nobody would be able to open it when standing before it. He looked at her one last time and then entered the hidden room. 

* * *

In another part of the castle, two furious men stood before a cowering servant crouched in front of them in fear.

“What did you say?” The servant tried to find his words, but could only point in the distance.

“That little rat!” David yelled and hurried back inside. The intruder was just a distraction. The real threat came from the inside itself. How could he have been such an idiot? He left his son behind to protect his wife, but that was exactly what the murderer wanted! Halt ran next to him, fear in his eyes. He too thought the same and ran even harder when they heard glass breaking. 

“No, Gilan!” Both men hurried to go upstairs but were stopped by the mess the murderer had made. Several people were injured and some of them even killed. 

“We have to take the other way,” Halt said, pulling sir David through the corridors. 

“But that’s all way around!” he protested. 

“Yes, but it’s the only way he can go to when he wants to flee! So in this way, that man will be trapped!” This gave David new encouragement and energy. In his head, he wished over and over again that he would be in time to save both his wife and son.

* * *

The murderer smashed the door and quickly looked around. His black hood covered his face but he had no problems seeing. He wore the hood to hide his face and, mainly, scare his victims to death. The boy had to be here somewhere, he had seen him entering this room often and called two adults his father and mother. There was a small light burning in a room on his right and, carefully, he walked towards it. But he didn’t find the boy, only a sick woman. 

“Tell me where he is and I let you live,” he said. 

“I will never tell you where he is, even if it will mean my death,” Marlee answered defiantly. She stood proud, unafraid, before him, even though it was evident that she was in pain. The man became angry and wanted to end her life, but he realised she was going to die soon anyway. 

“If you tell me where I can find Gilan, I will help you by taking away your pain.” Gilan felt how tears appeared, but he also needed to be as silent as possible. He didn’t hear anything after a few minutes and thought the murderer had already left the room when suddenly the glass of the window broke and his mother started to cough. She fell on her knees in her fit, curled up to a ball, then fell on the floor and laid there, completely still. 

“Now your son will show up soon, only to find out his mother is dead.” Then, he left the room, well knowing that he had to get out of the castle. He had had just a couple of minutes to find and kill that kid, but the mission had failed. No, he thought. Gilan would be so desperate to revenge his mother, that he would even walk into their arms if they played the game well.

Gilan opened the door and ran towards his mother. Her hands were bleeding because of the glass, but that didn’t concern him the most. She was still alive, her breathing shallow, but she was coughing blood, a lot of blood. 

“Gilly, listen to me. I love you and I’m so, so proud of you. Promise me to do your best and to live an honourable life.” 

“I promise you, mother, I’ll make you proud.” Marlee didn’t hear his words since her soul had already left her body. He stood up and ran downstairs, running past his father and ignoring his calls and wanted nothing else than capturing the man who was responsible for the death of his mother. 

* * *

At the same moment, Tess and Lynn didn’t know what to do. 

“We need to get out of here, now,” Lynn said while putting on her quiver and holding her bow in her hand. 

“Yes, but how? We can’t go through the door. What if someone sees us?” Before she could even finish that thought, the door opened and there was a man, all shocked that two unfamiliar girls in strange clothing were standing there, one even armed! 

“Who are you two and how did you end up here in my inn?” he bellowed. Tess came one step closer, holding her arms up to show that she wasn’t an enemy, but the man shouted that she wasn’t allowed to move. 

“How did you appear here, you witches? You never paid for the room!” Lynn and Tess exchanged glances; how were they supposed to answer when neither knew how they got there? 

“Euh, we can pay?” Lynn tried to soothe him, reaching into her pockets, only to find out that she no longer had any money on her. Tess mimicked her movements, only to found that she was in the same situation. 

“Or… maybe we can’t?” Tess bit the inside of her cheek. 

The innkeeper looked at them like they were crazy, then mumbled: “Where’s my pitchfork?” The girls paled. 

He pointed at them and said: “Stay here and don’t you dare to move!” He closed and locked the door. Lynn looked at the only other possible way to get out and opened the window. 

“Let’s go, Tess, we have to leave!” They both went through the window and ran into the forest. They couldn’t see very well in the dark, much less due to the fact that it was still before dawn, but finally, they approached the village from the other side when suddenly, they saw a huge fire in the distance. They heard villagers screaming. 

“What’s going on there?” Lynn asked, but Tess pulled her arm. 

“We find out later. If they see us, we’re dead!”

Little did they know that the murderer had taken a torch and lit a farm on fire to make it easier to escape. Gilan went after him but lost him in the forest. He did see some armed person running away from him, but it was too dark to continue. 

“I will get you, sooner or later,” he said, before returning home.

* * *

“Okay, we need to find out where we are,” Tess said when they took a small break from running. Their lungs burned and it felt like their legs were on fire. Tess had to lean on a nearby tree to replenish her oxygen supply since she had asthma and couldn’t run long distances without breaks. 

“I’d say we’re somewhere in the past, at least the buildings looked quite medieval to me, don’t you think? But where and which year? I really don’t know,” Lynn thought out loud. “Lynn, did you hear that too?” Tess whispered when she heard someone, or something, behind them in the bushes. 

“Yes, and I don’t like it.” A silhouette of a man came forward, but before he had presented himself, the girls gathered the last remains of their strength and ran further. They jumped over fallen branches, zigzagged between the trees, sometimes earning a scratch when they didn’t fully manage to avoid a branch. They didn’t mind, for now. Their main goal was to get away from danger. 

“Lynn, did you see that?!” Tess said, her voice full of excitement. 

“Yes, and that’s why we need to get away as far as we can!” After five minutes they desperately needed to catch a break after their mad dash, so they found a place to hide. It wasn’t an ideal place to hide, but it was all they could find in such a short period of time. 

“I think we lost him,” Lynn whispered.

“Are you sure about that?” Tess asked, keeping her voice low and looking around to see if her friend was right. They heard how a weapon was thrown and a few seconds later it hit the tree, just a few inches above their heads. Their faces became pale when they saw the sharp edge of a battleaxe and Lynn could only think of one person. Tess had come to the same conclusion, as she mouthed the name. 

“Talking isn’t a good thing to do when you need to hide, ladies,” a voice whispered, mere meters away from them. If it was possible, the girls lost their minds even more, screaming as they scrambled to stand up and run further. They knew it wasn’t the best thing to do, but at this moment they didn’t want to be caught by an angry Ranger. They ran further, but at some point, Lynn could feel how her knee couldn’t take it anymore. She had already given her weapons to Tess, to make it easier for her to run, but she knew she couldn’t go on. And it seemed like the Ranger knew that too. He had noticed that one of them had a problem with her knee and if he wanted to capture both of them, it would be easier to capture the slowest first. 

The other one would most likely try and protect her friend and then he could get her too. He ran after them and when he was close enough, he grabbed her legs to make her fall. Lynn was laying on her chest and tried to get up, but the man hit her knee and she screamed out in agony. To prevent her from getting up, the Ranger put her arms behind her back and hold her down by pressing his knee on her back. 

“Lynn!” Tess yelled as soon as she saw how her friend was captured, unable to break free. “Don’t mind me! Get away!” Lynn screamed as she tried to wriggle her way out of the Ranger’s steely grip. 

Tess didn’t know how to use a bow, she had only taken one class of archery in her entire life and she wouldn’t know how to do it when she had enough time, much less in a hurry. She also didn’t want to destroy Lynn’s beautiful bow in any way, so she threw it onto the forest floor. Still out of breath, she grabbed a fallen tree branch. It wasn’t a good weapon, but it was as good as it could be in these circumstances. 

Tess gripped the wood with both hands, watching the Ranger closely. When they stopped to hide the last time, he had thrown a battleaxe right above their heads. Now he had the axe laid next to him, keeping Lynn laying with one hand, and he was keeping balance with the other. However, from the deep shadow of his hood, he was watching the second girl, who right now posed a bigger threat than the one he had taken down. 

Tess eyed the man. Apart from the axe, he seemed to own quite a variety of weapons. There were two knives in a scabbard at his hips and a massive longbow was thrown over his shoulder. Tess gripped the wood so tight her knuckles had gone white. She didn’t have much chance to win this fight, not if she were going to fight on close distance. The branch could serve her well to prolong her arms, kind of like a wooden sword, but Tess didn’t doubt that the Ranger’s knives and axe were as sharp as a razor. 

“What are you doing?” Lynn yelled at her through gritted teeth. “Get away from here!” While she thought it was very noble of her friend to try to save her, she saw the man’s weapons too and didn’t want Tess to get hurt. If she did attack the Ranger, then she was an idiot. She could never win, that much they both knew. 

But, since Tess was a desperate idiot, she charged. She was breathing hard and couldn’t reach the speed she could’ve normally, but she had at least half the mind to not raise the branch over her head and leaving her torso exposed. 

Lynn screamed when she saw the edge of the axe shine right above her and splinters from the broken wood fell on her back and on the ground. However, Tess wasn’t an amateur. She disliked fights but knew that while the man swung the axe one way and destroyed her weapon, she could risk another attack while he had the other side of his body completely exposed. 

She found a steady footing and spun a kick on the Ranger’s face. However, it seemed that they both underestimated each other. The man must’ve thought she wouldn’t have that much skill to actually try and harm him. And Tess? She should’ve seen it; should’ve known that with such an array of different weapons, the man would be a skilled warrior, but she was still surprised when he saw through her attack and moved so her leg hit his shoulder instead. And, Tess knew from experience, a kick to the shoulder wasn’t as fatal as one to the head. 

“Do prdele!” she cursed, immediately withdrawing from his reach. Her eyes never leaving the man, she grabbed another stick and kept it in front of her body. She could see that the Ranger was watching her every move like a hawk. 

Lynn was still wriggling out of his grip, but that bastard sat on her, seemingly content to not go after Tess. The Czech girl frowned. Lynn was down, she couldn’t move with her knee in such a bad shape, so what was he waiting for? Suddenly, it struck her. Her desperate attempts to break Lynn free were _amusing_ him. He was trying to provoke her to attack without thinking first. 

She waited for a few seconds. She stood there while a plan bloomed in her brain. Again, she ran up to the Ranger, but halfway up to him, she threw her stick. If he didn’t fall for it now, she’d be dead for sure. She had to hope that wouldn’t happen. She was still quite young and had her whole life ahead of her; she and Lynn both. 

She jumped into the air when she was a few steps away from the man. She was going to kick him again, but the Ranger grabbed her feet. She didn’t get even half a second to register what was happening before he threw her against a tree. Tess gave a gasp; all the air left her lungs and she was struggling to take a breath of fresh air. She also had the feeling that one of her ribs was broken. If not, there’d be a giant bruise. She hit her head and a dull pain clouded her vision. 

Despite all of that, she still tried to get up and fight. She spat blood onto the moss; she bit her tongue when she hit the tree and she felt the need to get rid of the metallic taste of blood.

“I wouldn’t do that,” the man said when he watched her preparing for another attack. “Otherwise your friend here might get… hurt.” 

Tess’ eyes widened. He wouldn’t! But, as the man had already demonstrated, he could and he would hurt Lynn. She watched in growing horror as he took out a knife from its scabbard, grabbed Lynn’s auburn hair (she bit a yelp when he pulled her head up) and put the knife to her throat. 

“You have ten seconds, girl!” the Ranger called. “Otherwise say goodbye to her.” Lynn whimpered quietly and tried to lift her head up even more so that the blade wouldn’t touch the skin on her neck. 

Tess stood there, completely terrified. She had to save Lynn! She took one wobbly step. 

“I,” she had to spit blood again. “I surrender,” she said quietly, but it was enough for the Ranger to hear her. He stopped pressing the knife to Lynn’s throat, but he didn’t remove it from her neck. 

“Come here and say it again, girl. And no tricks, remember!” he called. Tess wiped her mouth and took two more steps. She actually had to stop for a minute there. Through a mist in her mind, she had a coherent thought that this might be a concussion, but she wasn’t sure. 

She finally made it to the man. By now, her knees were shaking and she had trouble staying upright. 

“I surrender,” she bit out. Fear was starting to cloud her mind; maybe this strange man will kill them both now they no longer put up any resistance. 

Lynn was relieved to feel the blade no longer at her neck. The Ranger had put the knife back in its scabbard, where it belonged. However, his weight didn’t lift from Lynn’s body and she was having trouble breathing. She just didn’t notice that as much when she had a freaking knife pressed on her throat! 

“Your hands,” he ordered and Tess begrudgingly obeyed. She let the man tie her wrists with a rope with which he then tied Lynn’s too. 

“Get up,” the man said, while he stood up, lifting his weight from Lynn’s body. He tugged on the rope and helped her on her feet, but Lynn still shakily stood on one leg. She couldn’t put her weight on the other leg, not when he hit her in the knee. Tess huddled up to her, trying to support her so she could walk. She was shaking too but Lynn needed support to get over to where the man wanted them. 

The Ranger tugged on the rope and they started limping over to where he was standing. They were too tired to even talk, too out of breath with all the hopping and limping that they couldn’t fill their lungs with air, the pain too strong to concentrate on anything else. 

They followed the Ranger back to his cabin. With her clouded vision, Tess could barely make out the shape of a house, Lynn was hoping there’d be a stool or something to sit on. They were both out of strength at that point and needed some rest.

When the girls awoke back in the inn, only a few hours of the night remained. Now, it was well after sunrise. For them, it felt as if they were already here for weeks. They were confused, tired, in pain and by now they regretted everything they’ve ever done in their lives. 

The man led them to a small shelter next to the cabin. Lynn recognized a stable, if it wasn’t for straw and hay everywhere, there was a horse munching on hay. That alone should’ve given off that this was a stable. 

There were two stalls. The horse stood in one of them and the Ranger ushered the two girls into the second stall. He tied the rope to a metal ring on the wall. It was very uncomfortable, but for now, the girls didn’t mind. 

Lynn fell on her butt on straw, stretching out her bad leg and trying to relax her muscles. Tess sat down, leaned against the wooden planks that divided the two stalls and closed her eyes. 

The Ranger stood there for a minute, watching them. 

As if we tried anything in our current state, Lynn thought bitterly. She hoped he’d tell them why on the Earth he relentlessly pursued after them in the forest, but the man had other plans. Once he was sure that they wouldn’t escape, he locked the stall, mumbled something Lynn didn’t hear and left. 

She turned to her friend and nudged her with her elbow. 

“Tess! Are you okay?” she asked, worry clear in her voice. The younger girl opened an eye, blue iris looking at her. Tess smiled slightly. 

“It should be me who’s asking that,” she said. “How’s your knee?” 

Lynn shuffled as far as she could with the rope to snuggle with her. It brought them a certain kind of comfort. They were in the past and didn’t know how they got there. 

Lynn studied the yellow ends of the straw. “It’s fine. Certainly better off than you. You look terrible.” 

Tess tried to give her a reassuring smile but failed miserably. It hurt to smile. 

“I couldn’t just leave you there! You would have done the same,” she said, trying to not think about the pain every movement caused her. There was surely a nice bruise forming under her T-shirt. 

“You, dear lady, are an idiot,” Lynn answered. Then, all of sudden, her expression changed from worried and slightly amused to horrified. 

“My bow’s still there! I swear if that bastard doesn’t let me go back for it, I’ll-” 

“I don’t think he’ll let us do anything, Lynn,” Tess sighed. “He seemed pretty adamant about tying us up and letting us struggle the whole way here.” She yawned. This was a long morning and she needed rest. The adrenaline in their blood was losing its effect and they felt tired. 

“True,” Lynn said, playing with straw. She did that with her foot, trying to organize small piles of straw to spell “FUCK YOU” on the ground. Tess got an unnerving feeling that if she succeeded, it wouldn’t go well for her, but that was the last coherent thought before she closed her eyes and slipped into an uneasy sleep. 

A few minutes later, Lynn finally managed to spell “YOV” on the ground and she turned to her friend. 

“It’s actually not that difficult. I thought it’d be harder to move this...euh... thingy with my foot,” she said, excited about her partial success. Only when she looked at Tess, she saw that the brunette was sleeping. Lynn shrugged as best as she could with her hands tied. She’d love to sleep, she was dead tired, but she knew from experience that she could never sleep well when her bad knee hurt. 

When she was almost done with her message (by now she had to stretch herself to reach the straw), she heard a noise. Her soul almost left her body because the loud noise came from the horse in the next stall and it nearly gave her a heart attack. 

The horse didn’t dare to open its hellish mouth again so she relaxed. But only until a boy looked into the stall. He had brown hair and young features and looked around fifteen. 

“These are the ones?” he asked, presumably the man who had caught them. 

“Yes,” said a voice she recognized. It was the man who hunted them through the forest. Lynn gritted her teeth and tried to organize her message. 

“She’s got guts, this one!” called the boy. Suddenly, Lynn didn’t feel like the spelling thing was such a good idea. Before she could reach for the straw, two more heads appeared in her vision. They recognized only one of these men. The other man had black hair and a beard, and he was frowning. 

"Farrel, where did you say you found them?" he asked. So, Lynn thought, their kidnapper is called Farrel. She was trying to listen while she worked on making a less out of those letters she so carelessly put together. Fortunately, there seemed to be a lot on their minds so they didn't comment on it. If Lynn was lucky, they hadn't even seen it (except for the boy). 

"In the forest. They tried to run away the moment they saw me," Farrel said. Lynn couldn't restrain herself.

"Don't you think that maybe we were scared?" she called loudly. She knew Tess would be out cold for the next few hours so she wasn't worried about waking her up. 

The young boy's face appeared again. He studied Lynn’s face for a moment, then turned back to the men. Lynn noted that he looked pretty sad. Maybe something had happened to him? 

They must have moved away from the stable because Lynn couldn’t hear the next part of their conversation well. She only caught snatches of it, a high voice that must’ve belonged to the boy saying something about a man, but that was virtually all. 

She thought they had left them to rot there, but right as she started playing with straw again, they returned. The Farrel guy was holding her bow. 

“Is this your bow, girl?” he asked. Lynn nodded eagerly. They were probably going to let them go right now. This must’ve been one big misunderstanding. 

The man with black hair stroke his beard. “That is the most worrying,” he said. “As far as we know, Gilan saw an armed person running away, but in the castle, he registered a man’s voice. An accomplice, perhaps?”

Lynn’s eyes widened in surprise. They had been caught in the middle of some situation, it seemed. And by the looks of it, they weren’t getting out of it anytime soon. The boy, who must’ve been Gilan, looked at her again. He tilted his head when he saw something familiar, something interesting. 

“What’s that on your neck?” he asked, curiosity taking over. Lynn glanced at her favourite necklace. She winced when she realized that suddenly she was the centre of attention. Unimpressed, she said: “It’s just a necklace.” Oh, how it pained her to say it’s _just_ a necklace. It was special, gorgeous, but never simple. But, she wasn’t about to tell that to absolute strangers, strangers who had done nothing good so far.

Lynn cowered next to Tess in fear when the door to the stall was opened and the black-haired man came storming inside. Ruthlessly, he grabbed her by the hem of her T-shirt. Lynn couldn’t defend herself, not with her wrists tied together, so she tried to protect her bad leg from the man. She didn’t want to risk another injury. 

If Lynn had paid attention to the man’s expression, she might have noticed just how surprised he was. She didn’t have time to think about that; in one swift motion, the man took her necklace and ripped it off her neck. Lynn gave a cry of: “That’s mine! Give it back!” 

Her next words were halted by the man. He was still gripping her shirt, but he looked so much more intimidating. His threatening face was just mere inches away from Lynn’s and he asked in a low, deep voice: “Where did you get this?” 

Lynn paled and she felt a drop of sweat run down her face. This man was giving her the creeps. 

“I’ve always had it,” she said, trying to maintain eye contact with the man, but ultimately, she was the one who broke it first. She had no idea what this stranger saw in her necklace that made him so furious. Gilan and Farrel were watching their exchange closely and it was Farrel who asked what was that all about. 

The man finally let her go and stepped out of the stall, closing and locking the door behind him. Lynn could see from her place on the floor how he showed them her oakleaf necklace, then they all disappeared from her field of view. She sighed in relief and looked at the ceiling, feeling of sadness overcoming her. This was it. That was the end. Her bow was gone, her necklace, only Tess remained. 


	3. Welcome to your new cosy accomodations, girls, enjoy your stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess where we got the name for our fic from?

The Rangers didn't return to the stable. Tess was still sleeping and after some time Lynn found a comfortable position. She placed her head on Tess' shoulder and fell asleep as well. Two hours later, Farrel entered the stable. He had told Halt and Gilan to take care of everything and promised to send them updates of the situation with the girls. He had kept the bow, quiver, and necklace as evidence and was working on a report when he decided to check on the prisoners. It was nearing the evening and he knew they couldn’t remain without water for much longer. 

He stood in front of the door and looked at them. Their clothes were nothing like the ones peasants wore in the fief (heck, in the whole Araluen you wouldn’t find anyone wearing this type of clothing!), so they didn't live here. He thought back at what that brunette girl said. It was some word, possibly a curse given the situation, he was sure about that, but in what language? And the one he had captured first spoke with a slight accent. All in all, he concluded after a while, they must be from another country, if not two different ones. 

They were sleeping too deeply to even notice when he opened the door and kneeled next to Lynn. Farrel slightly touched her leg and she woke up, fear in her eyes. 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I have some water for both of you." She saw the two mugs with water and sat up straight. 

"Open your mouth," the Ranger said. When she looked a bit confused at him, he smiled. "No way I will untie your hands. I'm still not sure if I can trust you." Lynn nodded and opened her mouth to drink. He poured the water little by little until she drank everything. She hadn't thought that she'd be so thirsty after running away from the man and spending the night and a part of the morning tied in a stable. She poked her friend with her elbow and Tess looked up, right into Farrel’s face. 

"Wake up, I have some water for you too." Tess didn't trust him, but after seeing an empty mug next to Lynn, she realized there was no danger. She too let the Ranger help her and was glad to get rid of her dry throat. After giving them water, Farrel stood up.

Lynn struggled against the binding. 

“Wait!” she called. “Who even are you? Why did you hunt us down like animals? And when and where are we?” The Ranger stopped in his tracks and slowly, he turned his head. It seemed as though he was wondering if she was trying to trick him. 

Finally, he said: “I’m Farrel, King’s Ranger number 14 and you are in the kingdom of Araluen. The year’s 630.” He thought that this information was well-known and couldn’t harm him or other people in any way. If these girls decided to act crazy and pretend they didn’t know, that was their thing. The Ranger continued on his way and walked back to his cabin. 

The girls were left alone again, without knowing if and when Farrel would return. 

"Could you get some sleep?" Tess asked her friend. Lynn shrugged, as much as that was possible. 

"Not really, my knee still hurts a lot. I'm not even sure if I can stand on it." She noticed that Tess had difficulties with breathing. 

"How about you? It seems like he hit you hard as well last night, didn't he?" Her friend sighed and regretted it immediately. 

"I think it will be a huge bruise, but it will heal after some time." Suddenly, they could hear a strange, yet familiar sound. 

"I'm really hungry," Lynn said. 

"Hungry enough to eat my sandwich?" Tess teased her. To her surprise, Lynn nodded. 

"Even that seems tasty to eat. I hope we'll get something, but I'm afraid we have to do it with water." She was right. They were sleeping well into the afternoon and it seemed they wouldn’t get anything solid to eat. 

“We could try eating hay?” Tess suggested, making it sound like a question. “The horse likes it well enough.” Lynn made a grimace that told the other girl that she wasn’t in favor of eating hay. Her stomach grumbled again. 

“Maybe when I get really hungry, I’ll try that. You can go ahead if you want.”

Tess moaned in pain when she tried to reach that tiny pile of hay, but she wasn’t able to stretch that far. She gave Lynn a sad look. 

“Seems like we’re out of food.”

The Ranger came back only one other time that evening and, unfortunately, he didn’t have any food. He helped them drink again and briefly cared for his horse. Lynn frowned; the horse was getting much better treatment than they got, but when she counted in the fact that the horse wasn’t a prisoner here, it made sense. 

Once the lights went out in the Ranger’s cabin, Lynn propelled herself up against the wall. Tess mimicked her movement. They sat, staring at each other, not going to sleep. 

“You don’t think…” Tess started; then gulped and continued. “That we’re somehow in your book?” Lynn returned the look, her eyes wide. 

“I think we are. It all fits. A Ranger called Farrel, Araluen. I’ll admit, I don’t remember much, it’s like my memory got partially wiped when we got here, but it fits,” Lynn shrugged. Her arms felt like jelly and she almost didn’t feel her hands. The rope was tied pretty tightly. She felt the rope rubbing against her skin. If she tried to tug on it, she’d surely graze her wrists. 

Tess looked up to see the horse chewing hay. His mouth moved periodically as he ate his food. 

“Ta~da~, we’re dead if you’re right,” she looked at Lynn. The only comforting sound there was the crunching of hay, provided by the chestnut horse.

They didn’t even know how they fell asleep. Maybe they were still that tired (Tess needed lots of sleep with her concussion) and Lynn was probably just exhausted. 

It was a beautiful morning. Well, it was beautiful for everyone who currently wasn’t tied up in a stable. Lynn was up first, trying to have a stretch as an exercise for her poor suffering muscles. She had never slept in a stable in such an uncomfortable position. She woke up Tess who would sleep through fire if she could, and spent the next few minutes watching the horse’s back as it moved when the animal searched for food. 

They didn’t have to wait long for the Ranger to come with their liquid breakfast. Still water, but they had come to terms with that. Both Tess and Lynn would kill for solid food. 

“I know that hunger is just disguised water-” (Lynn wasn’t even going to ask. It had to be another weird Czech saying and Tess didn’t think about finding a correct English equivalent. Well, it wasn’t like she could, all tied up with no technology laying around) “-but I’d welcome anything. Even spinach.” 

“Says the person who makes a sandwich with jam and honey,” grumbled Lynn from her side of the stall. She looked uncomfortable as hell and grumpy. 

“I don’t know about you, but I really, really need to use the toilet.” 

One very awkward question and even more awkward moments later and they were back in the stall, tied up, but at least their mood had improved significantly. Tess was trying to tug at the ropes to see if Farrel tied them as tightly as he did when he first captured them. He did, unfortunately. 

At that moment the Ranger came back, holding a rope in his hands. The girls frowned. Why tie them all up after their little “bathroom break” and re-tie their hands a few minutes later? They’d be lucky if the ropes didn’t rub their skin off already. 

He unlocked the door and came closer to untie their hands. He helped them on their feet and leaned against the door. 

"Don't think I’m letting you go. After you have your feeling back and stretched your muscles, we’re leaving." They didn't know what he meant but did as he told them. Slowly, the limp feeling in their legs and arms disappeared and they were standing in front of the man. 

"Your hands," he said and they obeyed. He tied Lynn's hands first and then Tess'. "Remember what happened last night, and what I told about tricks?" Tess knew what he meant and relaxed her arm muscles. 

"Please, don't try anything stupid. One knife on my neck is more than enough," Lynn whispered when Farrel was preparing Nicker, his horse, for the ride. He tied the end of the rope to the saddle and took the horse’s reins. 

"You two go first." The girls walked outside and were blinded by the daylight. The Ranger climbed into the saddle and gave his horse a tap with his heels. They were going slowly for the girls couldn’t keep up with trot since they were still injured and Lynn’s knee was still hurting. They entered the forest, but after a few meters they headed towards a big road. There were a few villagers, looking at them like they were part of some travelling circus. They had probably never seen a girl wearing trousers.

After an hour, Lynn (and her knee) began to get tired. She started limping slightly, trying to find a little bit of comfort at the horse’s side. Then she had found the courage to ask where they were going. 

“Sir?” she asked, her voice a bit trembling. The Ranger didn’t answer but looked at her. She took it as a sign to continue. 

“I wanted to ask you where we’re going to.” 

“We’re on the way to Castle Araluen, and that’s all you need to know for now.” Lynn looked at Tess and saw that her friend wasn’t sure if she had heard it right. They spoke in a low voice with each other.

“I was thinking,” Tess began, but she already knew what Lynn would say. 

“Je bent een leerling, die moeten niet denken. Daar zijn ze nog niet aan toe,” Lynn grinned. “O please,” Tess replied, rolling her eyes. While doing that, she noticed that Farrel kept a close eye on them. 

“Lynn, I think he doesn’t understand what you just said to me. What if we talk in Dutch?” The idea pleased Lynn; in that way Tess would learn the language, she could help her and, most of all, the man wouldn’t even know what they’re talking about! They talked with each other for a couple of minutes and shared their thoughts, until the moment Farrel had enough of it. “Stop speaking that demon language so I can know what you’re talking about!” Nicker looked at his master and then to the girls. Tess glanced at the trees along the road, mumbling about how he should be glad that they even spoke English, and Lynn mumbled some words in her own language. However, she was promptly shut up by Farrel’s short, stern: “Careful girl or I’ll break your leg, understood?” 

Lynn knew he wasn’t making a joke and for the next hours, she didn’t say anything. She kept limping alongside his horse, much like Tess whose face was starting to go a bit green from nausea. Whether it was an aftereffect from her concussion, she didn’t know, but her friend didn’t look in top shape.

They stopped several times to rest and Farrel made some lunch for himself. He saw the pained face of the auburn-haired girl but didn’t pay any attention to it. He did give both of them water, to make sure they wouldn’t be dehydrated.

Just before they were supposed to set off again, Farrel tightened the girth of Nicker’s saddle. 

“Get up!” he ordered sternly. The journey was taking too long. Much longer than he was expecting it to last. Usually, he’d have reached Castle Araluen by midday. At least, when he didn’t have two slow, injured girls staggering next to his horse. 

Tess stood up, biting back a moan of pain when she had to lean on a tree to even stay upright. Lynn, however, stayed sitting on the ground. Their bodies weren’t used to this kind of extreme workout. Even if they weren’t injured, they’d have a hard time going on such a trek. 

Farrel moved closer to them, his horse following him. The Ranger repeated his order. 

Tess, frightened by the tone of his voice, reached out a hand to Lynn so she could help her get up. The Dutch girl grasped her hand and her friend, even though she was in enormous pain, tried to pull her up. It ended in a mess. Lynn wasn’t the lightest person out there and she took Tess down with her. If they weren’t in such a bad situation, they might have laughed it off, but neither of them was in the mood for jokes. No one knew what Farrel would do to them if they didn’t obey him. 

“I can’t!” cried Lynn, refusing to meet the Ranger’s eyes. There was something frightening about them. She punched the dirt next to her leg; she didn’t even mind the additional pain. 

“Die klote knie ook,” she mumbled, which prompted a raised eyebrow on Farrel’s side. Tess’ eyes widened when she remembered his warning and hurried to supply a translation. 

“I think she said something about her knee,” she tried to explain frantically, not knowing if the man would believe her. It seemed that Farrel relaxed a bit but she could never be too sure. 

“Show me your leg,” he crouched next to Lynn. Both girls tried to back out of his reach, eventually squirming to the end of the rope that held them. They ended up huddled together, leaning against a tree’s massive trunk. They couldn’t evade the Ranger any further. 

Lynn didn’t trust the man, especially not with her bad leg and not after the threat he’d uttered on the way. 

“Stay still,” Farrel said sternly. When Lynn didn’t listen, he grabbed her thigh and forced her to stop moving around. 

“Lynn!” Tess shouted and shifted closer. When she registered the dangerous glint in the Ranger’s eyes, however, she stopped. It was the same look that he had when he’d warned her not to do any tricks. Tess realized that she was seriously about to do something stupid and attack him, again, which would land them both in more trouble. 

Lynn pressed her back into the tree. What the hell was he about to do? Farrel looked at her, his expression conveying no emotion. 

“Listen, girl. You will hold still when I tell you to, understood?” When Lynn failed to answer right away, he repeated, more forcefully: “Understood?” She nodded. Then, she felt the pressure lift off of her leg. 

Immediately, Lynn yanked her leg to the right. A big mistake, she realized a split second later. She didn’t control the movement, she really didn’t. It was just an impulse, but Lynn was regretting every second of her life when Farrel grabbed her by the ankle. Because she was aware of how big of an error she had just made, she trashed desperately, trying to escape him. 

Tess moved a little bit closer. She had to defend Lynn this time, even if it cost her her own life. It wasn’t like she posed a very big threat with her arms tied. Well, she still posed quite the threat with her legs, but the Ranger didn’t pay any attention to her. With his free hand, he grabbed Lynn’s thigh so she couldn’t move her leg. 

“Now listen. This is the last time I will repeat this. Do. Not. Move.” His voice was low, a silent threat. Both girls gulped, even Tess who didn’t need to worry just yet. 

Farrel let go of Lynn’s leg. She stayed still this time, letting him expose her knee and look it over. He lightly touched it and Lynn yelped. 

“It’s swollen,” Farrel mumbled to himself. Indeed, Lynn’s knee was swollen. “However, it doesn’t look like it’s broken, rather that you overstretched some muscles or tendon.” Farrel looked at her and she explained shortly to him what had happened with her knee. 

“And the doctors didn’t know what was the problem?” Lynn shook her head. 

“No, they didn’t. I walk with it for three years now. It doesn’t hurt all the time, but last night I asked too much of it.” The Ranger mumbled something about how it was her own fault, but she was smart enough to remain silent.

Farrel looked over their surroundings, his eyes landing on a nice smooth-ish branch. He walked over to it, picked it up and cut off the ends with his knife. From his saddlebag, he took a rectangular piece of fabric, making his way back to Lynn. She laid motionless, watching the Ranger carefully, how he placed the stick alongside her knee.

“What- what are you doing?” Lynn asked, her tone high. She knew he was trying to make some sort of support for her to walk, but she still felt the need to ask. 

Farrel didn’t answer her, right now he was busy tying the cloth over the stick. That should give Lynn some relief when they set off again. 

The Ranger withdrew from her vicinity and Lynn could finally feel herself taking a deep breath like she was holding her breath the entire time. Tess started to move closer to her, to ask her if she were alright but stopped when she felt a cold stare on herself. 

Slowly, she turned her head to look at the Ranger. He was crouching a few feet away from Lynn with his arms crossed on his chest, staring at her. The girl felt a shiver run up her spine. 

“It’s your turn now.” 

Tess scrambled back. No way in hell she was letting a strange man look at the majestic bruise on her torso. No, no, no, no. She felt her back press against a tree and that was, unfortunately, the end of her escape. 

Farrel let her back up as far as she could without moving a muscle. He knew quite well how scared they must’ve been. However, they were still prime suspects in this murder case and he didn’t regret treating them as roughly as he had so far.

“I’m not going to do something horrible to you. I only want to see how bad your injury is.” Tess didn’t want to hear it. Treating a leg was something different than treating a bruised rib, especially by a man she didn’t know and who hadn’t been very nice to them! 

“Did I hurt your friend when I helped her?” The brunette opened her mouth to protest, but the Ranger was right. He hadn’t harmed Lynn, she had only expressed her pain. But apart from that, he had helped her. 

“I can also force you to let me help you, just like when we met.” He was smiling, but his eyes weren’t. He tapped his knife and Lynn touched her throat with her hand. 

“Let him help you Tess, for God’s sake. It’s just your lower ribs, right?” Lynn was trying to convince her, not being a fan of having a knife at her throat again after such a short time. Tess nodded, fear evident in her features. 

“Fine, you can help me. But don’t try anything!” Farrel stood up and he took a blanket out of his saddlebag. 

“Lay down,” he said. Tess hesitated, but after a pointed look from Lynn, she gave in. She moved so she was laying on the ground. She had to slide her shirt up, so he could see the bruise. To make her feel a bit more comfortable, he put the blanket on her chest. 

“Now I can only see your bruise and nothing else,” Farrel said. Tess elevated her head so she could see what he was doing. The Ranger noticed.

“You might want to lay your head back down. This is going to hurt.” Tess didn’t listen. She stubbornly kept her head up, watching his actions like a hawk. She could swear she heard a quiet sigh from the man. He was probably wondering how he ended up with such stubborn and disobedient companions. 

Farrel was right. It did hurt. A whole lot. He had to touch the bruise to see if anything was broken. It was such intense pain that Tess had to clench her teeth to stop herself from crying out in pain. She also forgot to flex her neck muscles so she laid her head in the tree’s roots. 

“How does it look?” she asked once Farrel examined her injury. The Ranger looked at her. 

“Nothing’s broken,” he said simply, standing up and going to his horse. While he bound Lynn’s knee with a clean piece of fabric, he had a proper bandage there, too. He took it out and went back to Tess. 

“I need to bandage it,” he told her. Tess tried to look him in the eyes, she really did, but after a few seconds, she focused on his shoulder instead. 

“You will cooperate with me, so I can do it.” That was an order, she knew. And she feared the consequences of what would happen if she didn’t obey him. Lynn would probably end up threatened (again!) and she didn’t want that. So she nodded and tried her best to help the Ranger in treating her injuries. 

After some mishaps when Tess would fall back down on the ground, crying in pain, or when she wouldn’t have enough strength to support herself long enough so Farrel could pass the bandage below her back, the Ranger had managed to wrap her torso up like a tortilla. 

Finally, it was over for her. She was breathing like she had just finished running the marathon, it was such an effort to tense her muscles with the bruise. Tess remained laying on the ground like a fish that fell out of its tank. 

Farrel took his blanket and rolled it back into the saddlebag. He let them relax for a few minutes, then ordered them to get up.

That went much better this time, the girls supported themselves against the tree they were bound to, and even Lynn made it to her feet herself. The Ranger untied the rope from the tree’s trunk and re-tied it to his saddle again. They were ready to go.

In the afternoon they reached the last hill that separated them from Castle Araluen. Although they were in a bad situation, both Tess and Lynn were impressed by the beauty of the castle. They stopped on the hill, just watching the horizon. 

“Come on, we’re not here to enjoy the view,” Farrel tugged on the rope that bound them to the saddle and eventually, the girls took it as a sign to continue struggling forward. They were absolutely exhausted, their legs hurt and Tess was barely keeping her eyes open. Lynn once again had trouble keeping up with them, even with the makeshift cast Farrel had made. She was trying to lean on Nicker so she’d have at least a bit of support.

They walked for half an hour and approached the guards. Farrel showed them his oakleaf to identify himself and they let him pass without any problems, but looked with some interest at the girls. 

“Get it out of your head,” the girls said at the same time and the guards looked in front of themselves and started concentrating on their jobs again. 

Farrel gave Nicker’s reins to a stable servant and took the girls inside. They passed some more guards and walked down some stairs. 

“Lynn, don’t you think this looks a lot like-” Tess spoke, feeling a panic attack approaching. “I’m afraid you’re right. This does indeed seem like jails,” her friend finished her thoughts. They entered a corridor and saw empty cells on their right side. The cells were small, but with enough place to walk a bit. They didn’t see any hand or leg cuffs attached to the walls and most of them were built in a way you couldn’t see your neighbour, but only the guard through a small opening in the door. Except for two cells. 

They were all at the end and had a small opening in the wall that separated the cells. On the ground was stray and it looked like that they refreshed it once in a while.

Farrel untied Tess first and put her in the last cell. He did the same with Lynn, but he put her in the other one. Before he left, he took the stick and fabric off her leg. 

“It only helps for a short time and keeping it on for too long isn’t good,” he explained. Their hands and feet weren’t tied again, giving them a bit of freedom. 

The Ranger left and the two girls looked at each other through the hole.

“What on Earth did we do to end up here?” Tess asked her friend, but before Lynn could answer, the doors of both their cells were opened and two servants came closer. They didn't look very friendly and both girls took note of that. For the second time of the day, they backed up until there was nowhere to run. Lynn's back pressed against the cold stone walls of the cell. She tried to keep her bad leg out of reach. Tess was ready to fight. Well, not as ready as she had been the night Farrel caught them due to her injury, but she was still standing in a defense pose with her fists clenched. She didn't realize that there were more than just the one servant who came into her cell.

Before they fully understood what was going on, they got beaten by the men. They charged at them like an animal charges at its prey, taking no mercy. 

"Ty zkurvysyne!" Tess shouted at him when he first tried to attack. She evaded his attack with ease; since she had done karate for three years, she had some experience in combat and knew that most of the time, she got underestimated not because she was a girl (although here in the past that might have played a bigger role) but simply because she was small. But, apart from Farrel, she had never fought anyone seriously and there was always someplace safe. Here, there was no escape route. No friend who's pat her on the back, saying: "That's enough. You did well." Here, there'd be no rescue coming. 

The servant smirked. "Oh my, was that a curse right now?" he asked, hoping for a reply. Tess didn't say anything. He got the point. 

"Jarred!" he called. "Would you mind helping me here?" Before Tess could even blink, there was a second man in her cell, much bigger and bulkier than the servant who came there first. She gulped, looking at him, fear shining in her eyes. This was not good. 

Lynn, on the other hand, didn't have any means to defend herself. She needed to protect her injured leg, so when the first kick came, she curled herself up into a ball and tried to protect her head. She groaned when one hit landed on her ribs. She heard something crack and hoped it wasn't a rib. From the next cell, she heard Tess say something, but she couldn't decipher what she was saying. For now, she had to endure this torture. She didn't believe that Farrel would order someone to do something like this. Sure, he had them sleep tied up in the stable, they had to walk all the way here only to be put in jail, but he'd given them water and treated their injuries. He wasn't that bad. 

The kicks were coming less frequently now. It seemed that the servants had tired themselves out. Lynn heard the creaking sound of metal.

“Hurry up! Someone’s coming!” another servant said, while his friends closed and locked the doors again. There was only one exit out of the room, but there was one other vacant cell. The men hurried there to hide from whoever was going down the stairs. 

The girls were shocked and slowly uncurled from their protective positions, barely understanding what that was about. They heard Farrel talking with another man. 

“So you found them in the forest of Caraway fief and one of them could be an accomplice of the murderer?” the unfamiliar voice asked. 

“Yes, but only one of them was armed. The other one didn’t wear any weapons.” That was Farrel, by now they recognised his voice.

“But you told me that she wore a bow and quiver?” Lynn wasn't sure as her memory of the things happening in her books was fuzzy, but she could swear that Farrel took them to the Ranger Commandant. However, she had no idea who that was.

“That’s true, but she couldn’t use them. She put them aside when she attacked me.” 

They stood there for a moment, but Lynn could only see their shadows on the wall. “Let’s start with that one then,” he said and Lynn could hear the creaking of the door of Tess' cell. 

From her place where she was sitting on the floor, Tess looked up. There were two men in her cell. She was fully prepared to go into defense mode again when she realized that this was Farrel with some other man. He looked much younger than the Caraway Ranger, but he was, unmistakably, a Ranger too. He wore the same uniform and had the double-knife scabbard at his hips. Tess eyed them both warily. 

When he and Crowley opened the door, Farrel couldn't hide his expression of surprise. The girl, the one who was called Tess, was sitting on the floor, looking absolutely horrible. Not horrible in a "crying yourself to sleep" way, but in an "I got into a fight" way. A bruise was forming over the girl's left eye and she couldn't keep it open. Her lip was cracked and a small trail of blood was streaming down to her chin, blood drops falling on the floor. Her T-shirt was ripped at the hem, making the bandaged torso visible to everyone. When she saw them, she slowly pulled herself to her feet, watching the two men. With one eye open, she stood in a defense pose, her side turned to the Rangers, her arms outstretched.

The unfamiliar man made comforting gestures. 

"Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you," he said, his voice friendly. Tess frowned. He seemed like the kind of people she didn't like, the exact type of "happy-go-lucky" people. 

"Yeah, I saw that," she spat, knowing full well that the assault probably wasn't this man's fault. However, she still felt the need to take it out at someone, why not this stranger? 

The red-haired man seemed a little taken aback, but he reached out his hand. 

"How about we start by introducing ourselves?" he said, happy tone masking the suspicious feeling that there were people listening in to this conversation (apart from Lynn, but he knew about her). 

Tess looked at him coldly. No, she wasn't about to get friendly. But, she supposed, an introduction was the least she could do.

"My name's Tess," she said, coldness seeping through her voice. This man didn't seem as threatening as Farrel did and she was becoming more confident. 

"I'm Crowley," he introduced himself. He left out his surname, just like Tess did. Fair enough. The girl nodded; introductions were over.

"Now, Tess," Crowley continued. "We need you to answer some questions. Come with us." Tess narrowed her eyes. Going away from Lynn? Voluntarily? No way. She shook her head, knowing that the consequences wouldn't be nice. 

"Shall I convince you otherwise?" Farrel asked in a dangerous tone, his eyes flicking sideways to where Lynn's cell was. Tess took a deep breath. 

"No," she said. "I'll go."

Lynn had her ear pressed to the wall that separated the two cells. There was a little hole in it, but Lynn didn't have enough strength yet to stand up, not when her knee got a nasty blow from one of the servants.

She saw how Tess was taken out of her cell by Farrel and a red-haired Ranger. A few seconds later, screaming could be heard from one of the cells and the servants were taken away and punished for their actions. She hurried to the door to get a glimpse of her friend and saw how panic was taking over Tess’ body. 

Lynn didn’t have a chance to say anything, as Tess was led through a door. She was now all alone and without the presence of her friend, she felt extremely lonely. Suddenly her head hurt and she felt pain in her stomach. She was still very hungry but had tried to ignore the pain. 

The only thing Lynn could do now was waiting until Tess returned. She sat down on the ground, her back against the wall and her head leaning against the separation wall. Twenty minutes later the door opened again and the men brought Tess into her cell. Faintly, she could recognize the sound of the door opening. She didn’t look up, the pain being too much to bear. Since they knew what happened from Tess, the two Rangers expected Lynn to look a little… dishevelled, to say at least, but nothing could prepare them for the sight. 

The girl sat on the ground, much like the first one. She looked quite dead to the world, motionless. She didn’t show any signs of recognizing them. The sleeve of her shirt was torn near her shoulder, exposing a cut. Blood was seeping into the fabric of her formerly maroon T-shirt. The edges nearest to the wound were red and even in the 21st century, nothing could be done to save the lovely colour this T-shirt once had. 

Lynn’s hair was dishevelled, but she didn’t seem to have any head injuries, which was good. They wouldn’t need to worry about internal bleeding if that was the case. Her knee looked even more swollen than it did during their lunch break and it seemed that she’d need urgent medical attention. 

What shocked both men, however, was the girl’s other shoulder. She had the whole arm in a funny angle, the limb visibly dislocated. Crowley and Farrel looked at each other. They’d need to put the shoulder back into its socket before they could take the girl into the interrogation room. 

Lynn didn’t even notice that she was asked to sit up straight. 

“We need to do it here,” Crowley said to Farrel. The other Ranger lifted his eyebrows. They both knew Tess would have a fit if she heard Lynn screaming in pain, but there was nothing they could do. And since Lynn wasn’t responding to anything, they had no choice. 

While Crowley held Lynn in place in case she’d started responding and trashing, Farrel tried to maneuver the joint into its socket. Lynn screamed when the joint finally slipped back where it belonged (there were furious sounds of someone punching the wall that separated the two cells). 

Two minutes later, Lynn was still feeling tremendous pain. Mixed feelings of hunger, pain from the scratch she received from the servants and from the shoulder were taking their toll on her. But, she was finally conscious enough to perceive both Rangers and what they were saying. When she was asked to stand up, she did but had to get help from Farrel. 

“Lynn! Are you okay?” she heard Tess call from the neighbouring cell. Her good eye was pressed to the hole in the wall, watching them all closely.

“I’m fine,” she called weakly. It seemed that Tess wasn’t satisfied with her answer but it was all she got before Lynn was escorted by the two men out of her cell. 

Her vision became dull while walking through the door and the corridor behind, the voices of the men disappearing in the background. They were not even close to the interrogation room, when Lynn fell on the ground, surprising both Rangers. 

“No jokes, get up!” Farrel demanded. But his friend saw that it wasn’t a joke. 

“Farrel, I don’t think she’s faking it. Look at her face; it’s all pale. I think she went through too much stress since she arrived here.” Thinking about what Farrel had told him before, Crowley didn’t remember if Farrel had given them any food. “Did they eat during travel?” “No, I only gave them water. I didn’t have enough with me to give them lunch as well," Farrel said, looking down at Lynn.

“What about breakfast, did you give them some bread?” Farrel shook his head. 

Crowley turned towards Lynn and tried to figure out if she heard them. She couldn’t raise her hand but did move her fingers, although it was very slightly. 

“Wait here, I’ll get some thread, a needle and a bandage to stitch the wound,” Crowley said. He left but returned within several minutes. Carefully, Crowley took her right arm out of the sleeve and cleaned the cut with some water. Then, he took the needle and started to stitch. Vaguely Lynn felt how something went through her flesh, but she was too weak to protest.

“Almost done,” Crowley said when he saw the pain on her face. He made the last knot and put the bandage on her upper arm and shoulder and slide her arm back into the sleeve of her shirt. 

“Let’s bring her back and make sure to give both of them something to eat and drink. The other one was already panicking when we asked her the questions, but I think she will lose it when she sees her friend like this.” The red-haired Ranger took Lynn on his back and walked back to the cells. 

Tess had her panic attack under control, trying out various breathing techniques, but was shocked to see Lynn on the man’s back. 

“What did you do to her!” she yelled when they laid her down on the straw. 

“We didn’t do anything, she fainted when we walked to the room. Farrel, go get something for Tess, I stay here with this girl.”

Farrel left through the door they entered first and the man looked at Tess. The girl was looking at him through half-closed eyes, silently telling him that he’d be in big trouble if he did have something to do with Lynn’s condition. Not that Crowley feared an attack from a severely injured, weakened girl, but still; if they were truly the murderer’s accomplices, an underlying emotion could give away a lot. 

From the other eye, Tess was watching Lynn laying on the floor, feeling absolutely useless. She wasn’t there when her friend fainted. She couldn’t have prevented fainting from hunger if that was the true reason, but she could’ve been there. Now Lynn appeared dead, her chest was barely rising and falling, at least that was what she saw. She clenched her hands into fists. She felt anger build up inside of her. She was never an angry person, she always kept her temper in check, but the stress from all of this was beginning to get to her. 

She turned to Crowley, her fists clenched so hard her knuckles had gone white, her teeth gritted so they wouldn’t chatter. 

“I swear, if you laid one fucking finger on her, you’re gonna regret it,” she informed him. The underlying threat laid between them, neither one responding. Tess felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes and she blinked in rapid succession to keep the Ranger from noticing this particular weakness. 

“She’s fainted from stress, pain and hunger,” was the Ranger’s explanation. 

If it was even possible, Tess got even angrier when Crowley leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, whistling. She hated how he didn’t respond. She expected the man to be angry, to lash out at her, not being super calm and going on about his business. 

Tess gripped the bars of her cell. The whistling sound was getting on her nerves. She felt irritated, more than she ever had in her life.

“Stop doing that!” she roared. To her surprise, the Ranger stopped provoking her. The first tear fell. 

“Thanks,” Tess choked out weakly; her parents had raised her to be polite. She wiped the first few tears and then turned away from the Ranger. She went back to watching Lynn’s unconscious form, hoping she’d wake up soon. It was frightening, being here with this strange man.

She noticed Farrel coming into the room. He opened the door to Lynn’s cell, putting down a plate with bread and cheese and a cup of water. 

Tess was eyeing them carefully. She didn’t count on them opening her cell, not after the fit of rage she’d just had. She was right. Her dinner (was it dinner? Seemed like it, she mused) was the same as Lynn’s, but it was food. She wolfed it down in a few bites and went back to watching the second cell. 

When he was sure that the girl was breathing normally, Crowley left the cell, leaving the girls alone.

Lynn didn’t move for several hours, but when she blinked she saw that the men had left her some dinner. 

“Lynn! Are you okay?” Tess asked when she noticed the girl was trying to sit up against the wall. “Yes, but everything hurts.” Gratefully, she ate and drank and she felt how her hunger went away. However, she still felt miserable. If only the pain would go away, she thought bitterly. 

The girls made themselves as comfortable as they could be for the night. Since they had their hands free this time, they curled up on the straw. It was quite chilly down in the dungeon, so they tried to cover themselves up as well as they could (Tess put some straw on her back as her “blanket”. It was useless). 

The next morning, the Rangers tried it again. This time, Lynn didn’t faint and made it into the interrogation room. 

“Okay, just answer honestly. Then there won’t be any trouble,” Farrel said. “First of all: what’s your name and where are you from?” 

“The name’s Lynn and I’m from-” Yes, what would she answer? Her country didn’t even exist yet, so for them, it would be lying. 

“Forgot where you’re from?” the other Ranger asked her, a kind expression on his face, but Lynn knew better. 

“No, but you won’t believe me if I tell you the name of my country, because it’s not mentioned on the map.” They looked at her, not sure if she was lying or not. Lynn felt how they tested her answer and she wished they would stop staring at her. 

“I’m from the Netherlands,” she answered. “I swear it’s the truth, but as I said, my country doesn’t exist yet.” She looked around and saw a map on the wall. 

“May I?” she asked, pointing at it. They gestured she could and she stood up to show where the Netherlands were. 

“It’ll be formed here, in the northern part of Gallica, but it will take some years before it happens,” she explained. She sat down again and Farrel wrote some notes on a sheet of paper. 

“This bow, it’s yours?” She wanted to make a remark but thought it wouldn’t be smart to do that. 

“Yes, I bought it some weeks ago. The quiver and armguard are also mine,” Lynn said proudly. 

“Can you tell us how you got money for that? Did you steal it or earned it in an unfair way?” Lynn couldn’t believe her ears. Did they really think she _stole_ money? 

“I worked for my money and saved it to buy it. I’m not a thief if that’s what you suggest,” she replied indignantly, her arms crossed. 

“What were you doing last night? Because someone doesn’t run away if he or she isn’t guilty,” Farrel asked. 

“Tess and I woke up in an inn, the innkeeper called us witches and we ran away. And no, we didn’t enter the inn in the first place. We went to bed last night, at _home_ , and all of sudden we were in the past.” The other Ranger interrupted her. 

“What do you mean, ‘in the past’?” Lynn stood up and pointed at her clothes. 

“Doesn’t seem like we’re from around, does it? Believe it or not, we’re from the future, I swear.” The Rangers looked at each other, not sure what to do with her answers. 

“And how about that running away?” She sat again and continued her story. 

“We ran away because we were scared. Waking up in an unfamiliar place, a man that threatens you and then you’re hunted down like a deer by a Ranger. Wouldn’t you be scared in a similar situation?” Lynn played on their feelings, but the men didn’t give into her play.

“And the murders? What do you know about them?” the red-haired man asked her. Now Lynn was completely confused. Was that the reason of their problems? 

“I don’t know anything about murders.” Then she remembered the boy, and how he asked if ‘they were it’ and his sad face.

“That boy, Gilan, did- did he lose someone?” 

“His mother was killed two days ago and he went after the murderer, but lost him in the forest. And that’s when I bumped into you two,” Farrel replied. With one last look, they stood up and gestured that Lynn had to do the same. 

She expected that they would bring her back to her cell, but they went another way. They entered another corridor and she saw a single cell all in the back. This time, there were feet cuffs attached to the walls and a sudden fear fell on her. 

“Can you tell me what’s going on?” she asked when they put her in the cell and cuffed her feet. 

“Looking at all the evidence, you are accused of the murders and running away from a Ranger multiple times. You also wore the insigne of the Corps without legal reason. The King will decide what penalty will fit best at the end of your trial. Until that moment, you stay here.” 

The men left her and when they exited her cell, she ran towards the door, only forgetting that her feet were cuffed, and fell on the straw. 

“I’m telling you I’m innocent! I didn’t kill anyone! You have to believe me!” 

“Your story is too strange to believe. Your friend will be taken prison for an indefinite amount of time, until we find out what her role was,” Farrel told her. 

She couldn’t say anything else since they left her alone. There was no need to place a guard in front of her cell. The only way to get into it was by using a key. And the only person with that key was the guard at Tess’ cell. 

Lynn walked to the wall and sat against it. She put her arms around her legs and laid her head on top of it. Tears fell down when she thought about the other girl. There would be no way she would handle it. Lynn knew that Tess would get a huge panic attack and this time she couldn’t be there to calm her down. 

“I’m sorry Tess,” she whispered, “I had hoped to have a nice trip and spend some time together, but it seems like I will start my next journey.” The girl sat there, not moving for hours and not knowing what time it was. She got some food but didn’t touch it. 

“Give it to my friend instead, she will need it more than me,” she said when the guard took it away. All Lynn could do, was waiting for the moment that they would get her out of her cell and would end her life.


	4. Here's your free ticket to eternity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oops someone shouldn't look forward to their future

Tess was sitting on the floor in her cell, drawing horses into the dirt with the edge of her shoe. It was the only thing that kept her from panicking. Lynn had been gone for hours now and she honestly didn’t believe the interrogation would take that long. 

She thought about all that had happened to them so far. This all surely couldn't be because of not paying in the inn. Tess had a hunch that there was something much bigger going on and they had landed right in the middle of it. 

But seriously, where was Lynn? It was almost noon now. If she didn't return she'd miss lunch. Tess got up and walked to the bars, trying to see anyone coming. There was an uncomfortable feeling settled in her stomach and she dreaded to know what it was. 

When a servant came with their lunches, Tess was watching him closely. She needed to know if he left Lynn's portion in her cell so she could eat it once she got back. That's when she realized, with growing horror, that he didn't have two portions. He only had one and that one was given to her. 

Tess felt the anxiety take up its place in her brain. She didn't touch the food, instead, she started pacing in her cell like a caged animal. All kinds of intrusive thoughts were making their way into her brain and she had no idea how to keep them under control. Her breathing was slowly getting out of control as she hyperventilated. This was too much. 

A sudden pain flared in her stomach and Tess had to crouch on the ground. God, she couldn't breathe. Where was Lynn when she needed her? 

She was gone, gone, never coming back, a little voice in her head said, making her feel sick. Tess had trouble breathing, a prickly pain refusing to leave its settlement in her chest, lungs and she couldn't escape, there was no way. 

Where was Lynn? Was she in another cell? Dead? Gods, Tess let the tears flow. She was in so much pain, no injury she had received from Farrel or the servants could match up to this. 

Pain, pain, pain… it seemed like it was never-ending. Tess hugged herself in a desperate attempt of comfort. She let out a sob. Lynn was away, the pain was becoming unbearable, she was silently crying in the corner of her cell. 

You are useless, she heard. It was just a voice in her head, but to Tess, it felt like if there was someone whipping her. Lynn's voice repeated over and over: "Useless, useless little Tess, useless." 

She gripped her head, shaking it. 

"No, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, please don't be mad at me, Lynn, please." At the point she was openly crying, her shoulders resonating with sobs she couldn't suppress. If only she could see Lynn one more time, to tell her how sorry she was that they both landed in this mess.

No rational thought told her that maybe Lynn was still alive. Tess wouldn't believe it anyway. Nowhere in her thoughts was her friend alive and well. 

She once again hugged herself when the chest pain was becoming unbearable. She couldn't inhale and the choking feeling only fueled her panic. 

She was all alone here. Lynn was gone, so irretrievably gone. Her parents and sister would never know what happened to them. They would spend their lives wondering why she had never come back. More tears fell down her face and Tess felt like crying a river. She tried to be strong, she really had, but there was nothing she could do here, she was left alone, now it was only her and she was alone. All alone. 

Like a princess in her tower, she thought bitterly, only locked in a dungeon. Ironic as that was, this one thought helped ease the pain. Tess blinked. From the veil of tears, she recognized the now-familiar wall of her cell and she shuffled as close to it as she could, pressing her burning side against it. 

The coldness from the stone wall helped her calm her feelings once more and she started to think more rationally, taking deep breaths, eventually getting rid of the chest pain. 

Tess wiped her eyes in her arm. Wet trails were visible on her skin. Still sobbing, she realized that her face had to be red and puffy from crying. If someone came in, they'd surely notice that. She made a point to only drink half of the water she was given and washed her face with the second half. It wasn't much, but she felt somewhat better. 

The Rangers left her to rot in there for another two hours. Of course, Tess didn't have any means to know that, it felt like an eternity to her. 

"Where is Lynn?" she demanded as soon as they set feet in the room. She forgot all about politeness, only wanting to know the answer. 

"What did you do to her?" she asked furiously when the two men stopped in front of her cell. She walked to the door and gripped the metal bars. She repeated her question, more forcefully this time. 

Farrel took a step forward but stopped far enough that she couldn't reach him if she decided to attack. 

"Your friend is accused of multiple murders, running away from a King's Ranger, wearing unlawfully the insignia of the Ranger Corps and lying," he said. Tess' eyes widened in surprise. Murders? There were murders? 

"But we didn't know about any-" she started to protest, but before she could even finish the sentence, a sharp tone interrupted her. 

"Silence!" Farrel said and Tess promptly shut up. She closed her eyes tightly and clenched her palm into a tiny ball. She couldn't- Lynn couldn't have committed these crimes! She was there with her, that would mean that she too had to be accused of the same thing! Yet here she was. 

"You, on the other hand, are accused of attacking a King's Ranger, lying to an official and running away. You will stay here before it is decided what role you played in the commission of the crimes," Farrel said, turning on his heel and leaving the room. 

At that exact moment, Tess could've broken down again, but she didn't. If looks could kill, there would be a smoking hole in the spot Farrel stood in. 

"Can I see her?" she asked Crowley who still stood there watching. The Ranger shook his head. 

"No. The King will grant her a fair trial. This morning was the last time you saw each other," he said, but not coldly. It seemed that he at least sympathized a bit with the two friends. 

If yesterday Tess felt rage, it was only sadness today. She fell to her knees, looking at a very particular pile of dirt. She was concentrating so hard as not to have another panic attack. 

"You'll be taken in for further questioning before dinner," Crowley said. "Try to calm down before then." 

Tess gripped the fabric of her trousers. How could she? She'd have gladly listened to the Ranger's advice on how on Earth she was supposed to calm down. 

The red-haired Ranger left, leaving her only with her thoughts.

That first evening of their forced separation, Tess was sitting on the straw, folding it in between her hands, eventually tearing it up. She had eliminated multitudes of straw that way already and she was still searching for the culms on which she hadn’t got her fingers yet. 

From time to time, she glanced up at the entrance. The Rangers said they’d question her again, didn’t they?

Five minutes after she laid down on the straw, staring blankly onto the ceiling, she heard the door creak. She didn’t move. Without Lynn, nothing mattered anymore. She had no one to protect, to be strong for any longer. 

There was only Crowley. Tess glanced at him for a second and then she continued to watch much more interesting things, for example, that one creak in the wall. She had no intention of standing up. She just wanted peace and quiet. During the afternoon, she cried all the tears she could and her eyes hurt so much now. She wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. 

From her place on the ground, she saw how Crowley opened the door of her cell and stood in the entrance (probably a precaution if she wanted to escape). Tess blinked. She wasn't stupid. She knew that in such a limited area the Ranger would catch her before she even reached the stairs. Furthermore, she didn't know the castle's layout. She would get lost after running through the first corridor and then she'd get caught. 

"Where's Farrel?" she asked, still laying on the straw. So far, Crowley didn't request anything of her and if he didn't drag her up, she would do absolutely nothing. He could interrogate her here if he wanted. 

"He went back to his fief," Crowley explained. There was no harm in giving the girl this information. Maybe she could relax if Farrel wasn't around. From what Crowley had learned, while Lynn was the sarcastic one who did things and then regretted doing them later, Tess was defiant but showed submission when her friend was threatened. Now, he knew, there was no friend. There was no Farrel. Maybe she'd cooperate...

"Get up," the red-haired Ranger ordered her. Tess glanced at him but remained on the ground. Crowley sighed. ...or not. 

"We don't have all day," he said, running a hand through his hair. "You'll have food when you get back." 

Tess didn't move. She didn't want to provoke the Ranger, but she felt no need to do what he asked of her. She feared the consequences no more. There was no Lynn to convince her not to do the stupid thing. 

"You have one more chance, Tess," Crowley said, his tone becoming hard. "Otherwise I'll have to forcefully restrain you." 

The girl shrugged. 

"You're very welcome to do so."

It was safe to say that Tess didn't think that the Ranger would actually drag her up. She should have foreseen it, though. It was almost funny, the surprise on her face when Crowley grabbed her arm and forced her to get up.

"My bed," she cried, looking at the straw, trying to get free from his grip. It was so weird, standing up. Like she was from another world. 

The Ranger had to literally drag her on the floor since she was still resisting, but after those first few steps, she started trudging after him through the corridors. She was looking down on her feet the entire time. 

They ended up in the interrogation room. Tess had already been there once. Last time she didn't tell the Rangers much. She was panicking the entire time there. Now, she was calmer and more attentive. She looked around curiously. 

There was a table with four chairs. Two were on one side and the other two were on the other side. There was a giant world map on the wall, picturing all the existing countries. Otherwise, the room was almost empty. Tess decided it had to be some former dining room or someplace for the servants to eat. 

She sat down, setting her hands on the table. Crowley didn't bother tying her wrists. It seemed she was depressed enough not to try and escape. 

"We'll start again, shall we?" he asked. Tess neither nodded or shook her head. 

"What is your full name?" There was a piece of parchment in front of him, and a bottle of ink. 

"I'm Tess Nová," she said, letting her accent show. It was always there when she pronounced Czech things in English. She watched as Crowley wrote that down. 

"Where are you from?" he asked. Tess sincerely doubted he'd know about her little homeland. It wasn't even formed yet. Right now the Celts had to live there. 

She shrugged. "I'm from the Czech Republic," she answered, continuing when she noticed his curious expression. "It's a Slavic country." 

The Ranger caught on. "You mean Aslava?" he asked. Tess didn't know. Yeah, Aslava sounded like "Slavic", but she needed to look at the map. Crowley let her look at it. Two minutes later, Tess decided that her country must be somewhere between Aslava and Alpina, so she nodded. 

"Yeah, you could say that." 

"Now, Tess," Crowley leaned on the table. "Tell me what were you doing in that forest the night Farrel caught you." 

Tess recalled the story, telling everything truthfully. She had no reason to lie, and even if she did, she had already been accused of it. It couldn't appear on the list of crimes she had committed two times, could it? 

They were almost done. Tess was quietly snoozing when an evil idea flared in her mind. 

"Euh, sir? Crowley?" she started, unsure if she'd get a response. The man lifted an eyebrow. That was a good start in Tess' opinion. 

"What crime would I have to commit to end up where Lynn is?" she asked, wincing when she heard it. That question sounded incredibly suspicious, even to her own ears. And, Crowley must have thought so, too. 

He stood up and started pacing, one hand on his chin in a thinking manner. 

"It's usually a place for those who had committed murder," he said, then looked at her, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "But, if you, let's say, attacked a Ranger one too many times, you could end up there, too."

He stopped pacing, looking at the girl expectantly. He half-thought she'd attack him as soon as he said it, but she was still sitting in the chair, looking down into her lap. 

"I see," she breathed out. She made no move to do anything but willingly followed him when he wanted her to. 

All the way back, they watched each other out of the corner of their eyes. Tess waited for a good moment, Crowley for any sign that the girl was going to do something other than just look at the floor tiles. 

Finally, in one wider corridor, it happened. Tess didn't know how much this Ranger knew from Farrel, but she had to assume the man had told him about her kicking skills. However, she was close enough to pack a punch. 

She gave no indication that she was going to do it. Or, at least that's what she thought. But, her attempt to attack Crowley failed spectacularly. He turned his body sideways, grabbing her wrist. Tess almost lost her balance, her eyes widening in surprise. He _knew_. That bastard knew what she was going to do and he still let her do it! Tess growled. 

She let out a yelp when he grasped her free arm and yanked them both behind her back. 

"You're welcome to try again, Tess. You won't get to your friend, no matter how many times you try to attack me," he whispered into her ear, leading the way back to her cell. 

She was given no dinner that night. 

Meanwhile, Lynn was in so much trouble. She almost couldn't see in the darkness and her feet were cuffed to the ground. She disliked this darkness. It wasn't like the warm one at home, with her family, with her friends. This darkness was cold, enveloping her in her veil. 

Lynn shivered. Even though it was summer, the castle's walls were still frozen and cold. The only thing more comfortable was the straw under her feet. 

When the Rangers led her here and left her, she started crying. She failed everyone by not being fast enough to escape Farrel that day, not brave enough to try and attack him. 

She didn’t know how much time had passed, only that she was given another simple meal. Lynn had refused to eat it. The Rangers explicitly told her that she was accused of murders. The only fitting punishment for committing murder is the death penalty, Lynn knew. She wouldn’t need nutrients for much longer. She was curled up into a ball with her bad leg stretched out. There were infinite darkness and silence in the cell, so she tried to remember famous fairy-tales and then told them out loud. Otherwise, she’d go mad. Her voice was the only thing that kept her company. In the very end, it was all she had left. 

It was the next day, of course, she didn’t have any means to measure the time. In the morning, she refused to eat once again. Hunger was tearing her up from the inside but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. She was going to be dead in a few days anyway. 

“Go away,” she mumbled to the servant who brought her food, her gaze locked on one particular stone. “Give it to Tess, she’ll need it more.”

She certainly didn’t expect anyone to talk back. 

“My, wonder how your friend would react if she saw you like this?” Lynn looked up, her eyes narrowed. There was the red-haired Ranger, Crowley, but he was alone. Farrel was nowhere in sight. She bit her lip, watching him suspiciously. 

“Why eat when I’ll be killed?” she said with resignation. Really, why waste good food when it could go to someone who needed it more? 

“You should eat it,” Crowley said. “Your friend never sees anything of the food you’re trying to send her.” He opened the door to her cell, leaving it open. Lynn’s feet were cuffed, she couldn’t escape from here. 

She didn’t understand. Why did Crowley go out of his way to tell her to eat? The Ranger laid down the plate but Lynn didn’t make any move to reach it. 

“How is your shoulder?” he asked and Lynn gaped at him like a fish. 

“Why?” she gasped. “Why are you doing this?” she asked, dumbfounded. The Ranger’s question was sincere. “Why are you giving me food when I’m going to get the death penalty?” 

Crowley pursed his lips and tilted his head back. 

“Nothing about your punishment is decided yet,” he finally answered, slowly like he was trying to find the right words. “The King will grant you a trial, but if proof of your innocence comes in, I will do my best to moderate your sentence.” 

Lynn nodded, still unsure as to where this was going. Crowley continued: “However, even if you are innocent in these murder cases, you are still guilty of the other crimes you were accused of.” 

The girl needed a few moments to come to a conclusion. She leaned forward. 

“Are you saying you believe me?” she asked hopefully. Momentarily, she forgot all about her troubles, a new hope giving her the strength she currently lacked. Crowley shook his head. 

“I’m saying that I do not know what Farrel and Gilan saw in that forest. Do not mistake it for me believing you,” he explained and watched Lynn deflate. The hope he’d given her was gone. Lynn would realize only hours later that what the Ranger was trying to say was that no actual proof of her committing the murders existed. 

Lynn kept staring at the food on the ground. She wasn’t sure if the man wanted her to eat it right in front of him. She turned her head away, her eyes closed. She could hear the sound of the cell’s door closing. 

“Your friend wouldn’t want to see you like this. Try to reflect on that.” Rapid sounds of footsteps followed, indicating that the Ranger had left her in the darkness’ company once again. 

When Crowley came in again later that night, Lynn was sleeping. There was an empty plate next to her.

Here in her cell, Lynn’s perception of time was twisted. She had no idea how long it had been since she last saw Tess. Sometimes, she’d hear faint sounds of raindrops, meaning it had rained, but right now, everything was still. She had got used to it. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t. 

Her eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, being able to recognize all shapes now in the gloomy room. She almost didn’t feel the weight of the cuffs on her legs anymore. 

Every time the door opened, she had to squint. The light always blinded her and she was glad that it never lasted more than ten seconds. 

Today, however, was different. When the door opened, it stayed open. Lynn didn’t recognize the person. This was someone much bulkier than anyone from the castle. She backed up preventively. 

When the stranger came closer, she recognized Crowley’s face. The Ranger had a bundle of clothes in his arms, and these clothes landed next to her feet. Looking over his shoulder, Lynn could see a second man at the door to her cell. Farrel was back. Over the last few days, only Crowley was there and she didn’t know where Farrel had disappeared to. 

The red-haired Ranger crouched down and uncuffed her feet. Lynn immediately stretched her legs. Now she understood why Farrel stood at the door. He was a precaution in the case she tried to make a wild dash for the only escape route there. 

“Come on, dress up,” Crowley said, leaving her cell. “You have ten minutes to get ready.” 

The two Rangers left to give her some privacy, but Lynn suspected they were just around the corner. The door to the room stayed open, giving her light to see. She took the first garment in her hands. She blanched. There was an undershirt, and - Lynn’s face had gone white - a very simple brown skirt. She made a grimace. Never, ever had she worn skirts. Did she really have to do this? 

She put the skirt aside for now. There were only beige shoes left. Lynn touched them. They were from soft material, probably leather. She decided to put them on first. That way, she could prepare for the mental shock that awaited her when she finally had to swallow her pride and dress up. 

She was glad the Rangers had left her alone but her ten minutes were almost up and she only had the light beige undergarment on. She was still resisting the skirt. Maybe she could go to the King like this? 

Lynn closed her eyes. It was very possible that whatever sentence she got today would affect Tess as well. If she had to do this, she could try to warrant them both the best chances. She took a deep breath and put the skirt on.

“Are you done?” Farrel asked and she was glad he waited for her answer. 

“Almost, I only have to put on the belt.” She folded her own clothes and placed them on a small pile. She didn’t know if one of them would come to her or if she had to go to them. At that moment, Crowley entered the cell and in his hands, he held some cuffs. Lynn frowned. Was it really necessary to do that? There was no way she would be able to run away from the Rangers. 

“You’re going to see the King; it’s just for his safety,” the Ranger told her. She waited until he had cuffed her hands and also her feet. She could walk, but running would be impossible now. He took her arm and led her out of the cell, to the trial room. 

They didn’t pass Tess but took another way upstairs. With every step her heartbeat raised. She had never been into a trial room and didn’t know how it would go. Heck, she hadn’t even met a King! That reminded her of something. 

“Sir?” she asked Crowley because she trusted him more. “When I need to answer, how do I do that?” Simple saying “King” wouldn’t fit, she thought. But “Your Honor” would be to low for his rank. 

“You say “Sire” or “Your Majesty” when you need to answer. And you only answer if he asks you something. So you remain silent the whole time unless you have to speak. Understood?” She nodded. 

“Yes, I understand. Thank you,” she replied. 

After some minutes they stood in front of a door. 

“Wait here,” Crowley said and went through it, leaving Lynn with Farrel. The girl didn’t like Farrel that much. Yes, he had helped her, but he also had scared them that night and, not to forget, he had hurt and threatened her several times in order to make Tess co-operate. 

The door opened and Farrel took her arm and walked into the room. It wasn’t a big room, but it was still big for her terms. To her, it looked like a throne room. In fact, it was a room where the King held trials when not a lot of people were allowed to come.

Lynn was glad to see that only she, Crowley and Farrel were there. But she hadn’t noticed the two figures on her left side yet. 

Halt and Gilan had also come for the trial; Gilan because he was a witness and Halt because they wanted to protect Gilan for an unexpected outburst towards the girl. He still thought she was the intruder and therefore guilty for his mother’s death. 

In front of her was a throne, but the King wasn’t sitting on it. She could feel the tense atmosphere and her hands became sweaty. They didn’t have to wait long before the trial began.

“His Majesty, King Duncan!” a guard said and a young man, just a few years older than her, entered the room and took place on his throne. He wore fancy clothes, but not over the top as Lynn had seen in movies or read in books. On his head was a crown, simple, yet it made clear he was the leader of Araluen. His hair was blond and his eyes green. She could see some wrinkles next to his eyes, indicating that he liked to laugh. But today, there was nothing to laugh about.

Lynn wanted to look longer at his face but thought back at Farrel’s words before they walked through the door. “Remember: don’t you dare to stare at him.” Quickly, she focused on the small stairs in front of her. In that way, she could see when he talked to her, but she wouldn’t look him into his eyes.

King Duncan had heard about the murders and was relieved to hear his Rangers had caught the murderer, but he was very surprised when they told him it was a girl, barely out of her teens. Now she was standing in front of him, dressed in decent clothes and not comfortable at all. He knew her story, but even he had trouble believing it. 

He had heard a lot of excuses from prisoners, but that he, or she, came from the future? No, that was just too... unlikely.

He had decided to ask her the same questions again. Lying to a King would be a crime, so maybe she would change her story into something more acceptable. 

“What’s your name?” he asked, to start with the simplest question. His voice was deep and Lynn could hear the authority in it.

“My name is Lynn, your Majesty,” she answered, looking at him for a brief moment. “And do you have a surname too?” “Yes, Sire, I have. It’s Jonker,” she replied. 

“Lynn Jonker, do you know in what kind of situation you brought yourself into?” Duncan wanted to see if she knew why she stood in front of him and when he saw her nodding, he raised an eyebrow. 

“I want to hear your answer, not just a movement.” 

Lynn’s cheeks reddened and she felt how the Rangers were all staring at her. 

“Yes, Sire, I do,” she said. Duncan could hear how her voice trembled a bit. 

“In that case: Gilan Davidson, can you come forward to testify?” 

Gilan was a bit surprised, but after a little encouragement from his mentor, he walked forward, stopping next to Lynn. She looked awful, he realised after looking at her from such a short distance. Her face was white, her lips torn. It wouldn’t have been a nice time there, the boy thought, but it was her own fault. 

This all happened within a few seconds. When Duncan asked him to tell what he had seen, Gilan told him about how he had hidden in the secret room until the murderer went away, how he had run after him and saw how he had taken a torch to lit a farm on fire. The screaming of the children inside the house and the desperate attempts of their parents to rescue them. They could, but the children had inhaled too much smoke and had burned a huge part of their bodies. Gilan finished his testimony with the murderer running into the forest and how he lost track of him. 

“Thank you Gilan, you can go back to your place now,” King Duncan said. Gilan bowed his head and went back to Halt. Next was Farrel and he described how his evening and part of the night had gone. The King lifted his eyebrows when he heard about Tess’ desperate tries to free Lynn. 

When everyone had testified and the evidence was told to the King, he had to make a decision. He left the room to talk with Crowley in private about the penalty. Lynn felt how her life was now literally in the hands of the King. He had asked her if she wanted to say some words in her defense, but she had repeated the exact same story. She _knew_ it was the truth and she wasn’t allowed to lie, right? 

A few minutes later, the men returned. At the same moment, the door behind them opened and a small girl ran into the room. Lynn thought she would be two or three years old. Her hair had the same colour as the King’s. Maybe they were family? She wore a dress and her hair was braided into two braids. 

She stopped when she saw Lynn, curious who this lady was. King Duncan was shocked. How did his daughter come into the room?! She was supposed to be in their own rooms! Little did he know that she had escaped from the sight of her maid, who was now looking everywhere for the Princess.

Lynn noticed how a new pair of eyes were looking at her. The Princess _smiled_ to her; giving her a warm feeling. At least someone is nice enough to me to really smile, she thought. “Who are you?” the little girl asked. Lynn had a weakness for children and she couldn’t resist answering the girl. She crouched down so she could look her into her eyes. 

“My name is Lynn,” she replied. Not sure if she could ask her something, she decided that it would be safer to only answer questions. 

“My name is Cassandra!” the girl said. Lynn only smiled at her. The girl tilted her head. 

“Why are you wearing that?” she asked. She touched the cuffs and tried to take them of Lynn’s hands. It made Lynn smile even more. Children didn’t care about a lot of things at this age but were full of questions. 

Lynn had to think of an answer since she didn’t want to scare the girl away. “Did you do something bad?” Cassandra looked at her with her beautiful green eyes. 

“Yes, I didn’t listen to a Ranger,” Lynn replied after a minute or two. It wasn’t the whole truth, but for now, it would be enough to satisfy the small girl. At least, that’s what she thought.

“Why didn’t you listen to him?” Lynn bit her lip. How should she reply to this?

Meanwhile, everyone was prepared to come into action if the suspect wanted to harm the Princess. King Duncan was afraid at first but saw how his daughter talked with ease with the stranger. And it doesn't look like she feels danger, he thought.

“I didn’t listen, because I was afraid. Some people will try to defend themselves, but others run away,” she explained. 

Cassandra looked at the girl’s face but focussed on her eyes after a few seconds. Her face looked happy, but her eyes were full of… sadness? 

She didn’t understand why, but for some reason she liked her. Maybe it was her kind voice, or how she took the time to talk with her? She didn’t know.

The door where King Duncan entered through opened again and this time the maid was standing there, not sure if she could take the Princess with her or not. 

“Lily, can you take Cassandra with you to her room?” he asked, although she knew well enough that it was an order. She bowed and headed towards the girl. Cassandra didn’t want to leave and backed up to Lynn. The small girl bumped into her right shoulder, causing pain and Lynn moaned quietly. The Princess heard it and looked startled at the woman. It wasn’t her intention to hurt her! 

“Come on Princess, time to go,” Lily said, in an attempt to take her away. 

“Princess?” Lynn asked and the Rangers behind her became more aware. 

Farrel took a few steps, in case he had to rescue the little girl.

They didn’t know what Lynn would do with this information. Would she hurt Cassandra? Would she threaten the King to let her go? 

It was none of that at all. “Meeting the King and the Princess on the same day! I bet not a lot of people could say that,” she said to the Princess.

Lily had finally taken the hand of the Princess and was already leaving when Cassandra had one last thing to do. 

She took the white rose out of Lily’s hand and gave it to Lynn, who was bewildered, to say at least. A red rose was the symbol of love, but a white one? That stood for innocence, purity, hope, and truth. Did it mean that Cassandra knew she wasn’t responsible for the murders?

When the small girl left the room, she waved at Lynn and with one last glance she disappeared.

Lynn stared at the flower in her hands, thinking over and over again what it could mean. She would almost forget that she was in the middle of her trial!

She lowered her hands and paid attention to the King. She had heard him mumble some words, but didn’t understand what he had said. She was still thinking at the small talk. It had given her some rest and she noticed she wasn’t as stressed as before. 

King Duncan doubted. There was enough evidence to suspect Lynn for the murders, but the few minutes with his daughter made him think that maybe she wasn’t guilty. He sighed. This wasn’t an easy trial. He actually never liked trials, particularly when he knew that the outcome would be the ultimate penalty. After a minute or two, he had made his decision. 

“Lynn Jonker, you gave me a lot to think of and to be honest, it wasn’t easy to determine your punishment.” He stopped there, to let the girl make aware of the situation. 

All of sudden, Lynn felt a calmness come over her. She had already known what was awaiting her. She had read enough to know what punishments were giving in the Middle Ages and what the ultimate penalty was for murder.

“After hearing and reading all the evidence, I have no other choice than to sentence you to death.” How she would die, she didn’t know. When her penalty was spoken out loud, her whole world broke into pieces. Gilan was happy that she got what she deserved, but somewhere it didn’t feel right. 

Farrel and Crowley came closer and led her back to her cell. 

The whole way she didn’t talk and let the Rangers lead her. 

She looked at the rose in her hands while Farrel took her cuffs off. He walked out of the cell, while Crowley cuffed her feet to the wall. For some reason, he took some time to do that.

Lynn could wear the clothes and in all honesty, she didn’t mind. Nothing mattered anymore. She would die and Tess? 

Lynn fell on her knees, holding the rose tightly, making her hands bleed, and cried. 

Crowley walked towards the door but hesitated. 

“I’m really sorry,” he said, trying to lift her mood a bit. She looked at him with swollen eyes and tears on her cheeks. 

“No, you’re not! You don’t care, you never did! So don’t tell me you’re sorry!” she snapped at him. 

That wasn’t true, at least not everything. He did care about her health and when he asked her about her shoulder, he really wanted to know if it was functioning well. 

The girl buried her head in her arms and the Ranger left the cell.

Tess didn’t know why, but the whole day she had a bad feeling. Today Lynn would have her trial; Farrel had told her that when bringing her breakfast. It would be noon within some time and Tess couldn’t wait to hear what Lynn’s penalty was.

It would have consequences for her as well. If Lynn would be innocent, then maybe they would bring her back to her old cell. But if not. No, she didn’t want to think about that.

The door opened and she saw Farrel approaching, together with Crowley. The red-haired Ranger appeared sad and Tess feared for what he had to tell.

“What did the King say? What will happen with Lynn?” she asked, but neither of them answered. Farrel opened the door and made sure she wouldn’t run away.

“The King,” Crowley began, but he had to think about his words. Using the wrong one would make her furious. However, he thought, it didn’t matter. 

It was only for the best if he just told her.

“Your friend’s sentenced to death. Her execution will be within two days, at dawn.” He barely finished his sentence or Tess ran towards him but was stopped by Farrel. She hit him and tried to kick him, but this time, he let it pass. He knew she would react in this way, so he let her race until the moment she begged Crowley, tears in her eyes. 

She was now kneeling on the ground, looking up to the Rangers. 

“Can I see her at least one last time? Please, I beg you!” 

But Crowley shook his head. “No, you can’t. Like I said after her interrogation: that morning was the last time you two saw each other.”

With a small nod, he made clear that the talk was over and both men left Tess alone. 

When they were almost upstairs, they could hear a loud scream. Not one you hear when someone is in pain. No, this was a scream of desperation. 

Later that evening, Lynn was surprised to see her dinner. The whole time she had eaten bread and water, sometimes she got some cheese or some meat. This time, however, she smelled a delicious smell. None of the Rangers came, but a servant instead. He held a bowl with soup and when he had to give it to Lynn, she saw that he was a bit nervous. “I’m not going to harm you.” He was surprised when she talked to him, and although she was sentenced to death, she was still polite and even tried to smile. 

“It’s a vegetable soup, I hope you’ll like it. It’s homemade,” he said. Lynn thanked him and waited until he was out of her cell. Carefully she took a sip and the warmth spread through her body. This was delicious! She ate the soup and put the bowl aside. It was a nice variety of her normal dinner, but something was odd. 

All of sudden, she was tired. Her eyes kept closing and she had problems with staying awake. She laid down and within seconds Lynn fell asleep. 

A few hours later, Crowley entered her cell and crouched down to pick up the empty bowl. He looked at the sleeping girl. Normally he would never use the powder, but he had seen how bad Lynn had slept the last nights and how it was breaking her. For the first time since she and Tess were in Araluen, Lynn finally had a good sleep.

“I hope you forgive me, but this is all I can do to help you,” he whispered, before standing up and locking her door.


	5. Close calls are a great way to get some ever-lasting trauma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breaking news! One of the characters is depressed and the other is an idiot. Take your pick

_Lynn’s feet were cuffed, her wrists were tied, she could feel a panic attack coming. Usually, she almost never had panic attacks, but this one was coming and she knew it. The prolonged time spent in her cell made her squint when she finally left it._

_Farrel and Crowley were the ones who were with her, leading her to her death through the labyrinthine corridors of the castle. Lynn was quiet. There was no use trying to escape. She wouldn’t make it to the first turn. In the last moments of her life, she was just trying to shrink back from Farrel. Both the Rangers had emotionless expressions; she couldn’t know how they felt about all of this. Heck, they didn’t even tell her how she was going to be executed._

_Normally, Lynn wouldn’t admit something like this, but she was scared. Absolutely scared. It was frightening to know she’d die in a few minutes. Her stomach was in knots and she couldn’t breathe. She staggered through the corridors, not even trying to take in the beautiful medieval architecture. After years of studying history at the university, she thought that she would use every little opportunity to admire the finest details but in reality, it was all different._

_They led her outside to a yard. There was a place with a block of wood and her throat tightened in fear. She would be beheaded, she was sure of it. She swallowed nervously. That was going to be absolutely painful._

_Lynn stopped. She didn’t want to die yet! She was innocent, for God’s sake! Back in her cell, she thought that she had come to terms with her impending doom, with the capital punishment that awaited her. Now, nearing the execution grounds, she wasn’t too sure anymore._

_She started to resist, she dug her heels to the ground and tugged on the rope the Rangers held. The two men were still stronger than she was, though._

_“Please don’t make this harder for yourself,” Crowley said, forgetting about the rope and taking her by the arm. Farrel took her from the other side, following the Ranger Commandant’s example. They even lifted her up a little. Lynn hung her head and stopped resisting. It was useless. Absolutely useless. She could never escape. She had to accept her fate no matter what._

_Poor Tess, she thought. Her friend would get stuck in this era, in jail, for years, maybe her whole lifetime. She, on the other hand, was lucky enough that her suffering would be ended at the very beginning. That was an awful thought, but it kind of comforted her._

_Lynn was forced by both the Rangers to put her head on the piece of wood. From the corner of her eye, she could see the executioner coming. He had a sword in his hands and she could feel a drop of sweat trickle down her forehead. She had known enough that she would be very lucky if the executioner killed her on the first swing. Otherwise, it would be extremely painful._

_She was so stricken with fear that she couldn’t move. The Rangers had withdrawn from her reach, they couldn’t stop her immediately if she wanted to escape (of course, there was a whole bunch of other people, the guards, even the King was present, he was looking down from a balcony)._

_The sword went up. Lynn closed her eyes. She couldn’t look at her demise. She just couldn’t. She was expecting tremendous pain to start any second now, but it never came._

Lynn shot up from an uneasy sleep. She was breathing hard, shivering, not only from the coldness that ruled the room but also from her nightmare, touching her neck. The girl looked around like she couldn’t believe that she was still safely in her cell. Drops of sweat were trailing down her back and she shivered. Her rapid breathing slowly subsided but she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling of having a blade on her neck. 

Lynn couldn’t say for sure if it was morning already. She decided that it probably was. Even if it was the middle of the night, she wouldn’t fall back asleep anyway. These images would still play in her head and she wouldn’t get rid of them for the remainder of the night. 

Her theory about it being morning was correct. She was just laying on the straw when she was given breakfast. Lynn looked at it. She felt sudden nausea. Maybe, she thought, it’s an aftereffect from my dream. She didn’t touch her bread and cheese, only drank a bit of water to moisten her dry throat. Tomorrow morning, she'd be executed and no one would ever know what happened to her. Well, except for Tess, but she was stuck here. 

Then she thought about her family and friends in the Netherlands. They wouldn’t know what happened to her, nor would they be able to visit her grave. I don’t even know if I get a grave, she thought. The faces of her beloved ones passed by in her head, and she shed some tears when she realised she wouldn’t ever be able to tell them goodbye. Her parents were always supportive, even though they thought she was too obsessed with her books. Her friends at school were fun to be around and always helped her with her homework or listened to her if she had to rant about something or someone. 

And Tess? At first, Lynn wasn’t sure if it had been a good idea to sign in for the buddy program at her university, but after meeting the girl, she knew she had made the right choice. Sure, Tess could be a bit too defiant from time to time, but she had her heart at the right place. 

Lynn smiled. She would miss Tess’ company and the way she tried to speak Dutch. Her accent was quite strong, but it had some charm. She hadn’t told her friend, but to Lynn, it felt like they had known each other for years. Even more, she saw Tess as a sister. 

“It’s a pity we ended up in such a mess, otherwise it’d have been a great memory,” Lynn said to no one in particular. 

Meanwhile, Tess' cell got pretty boring. The girl was napping all the time. The morning went by and Tess wondered; how was Lynn? She knew that her friend would be executed tomorrow morning, but that was all. She was desperately trying to develop a plan in her head but nothing she came up with survived the stage of being just an idea. 

Last night, she had already tried to use a straw to unlock the door. It failed spectacularly when her "key" broke. Furthermore, she couldn't reach the piece that fell off, marking it clear to the guards that she was trying to escape. She considered herself lucky that no Rangers had paid her a visit in the morning, and the guards didn't pay any attention to a stray piece of straw, so she decided they weren't the smartest. Really, it looked like the Rangers were the true "police" force in this world. They were the masterminds here.

One of the ideas for their glorious escape included the old trick with a stomach ache. It was a classic one, but she had hoped it would work. She was greatly mistaken. When she had cried for the guards that she needed to see a physician, they had simply ignored her. Well, Tess thought they had ignored her, but when she was given a smaller portion of food, she realized that they did listen to her. Another plan failed. 

The next plan included breaking a plate. In the morning, after she ate her breakfast, her unfortunate victim was thrown into the wall. The ceramics had broken into tiny sharp shards. The noise had called the guards who came hurrying into the room. Tess smiled sheepishly while trying to hide most of the shards in the straw. After patiently waiting through insults of “Stupid girl,” and letting the guards take away most of the plate fragments, she found a nice big one, thinking she could maybe file the metal bars. In retrospect, it was a stupid idea. Ceramics could never work against metal. 

The first fragment crumbled between her fingers after five minutes. She let out a curse word that shouldn’t have any place being in a young lady’s vocabulary, and stepped back. A sharp pain exploded in her left foot. 

“Ow!” she cried out in pain. 

I’m dumb! she thought while she was hopping to the wall to lean on it. A trail of blood was coming from her feet. Tess accidentally stepped on one sharp fragment when she stood up and took a step back into the cell after the first piece had crumbled. 

She slid down the wall to sit on the cold ground. It hurt, oh God, it fucking hurt. The tears came into her eyes and started flowing out. She looked at the sole of her foot. Sure enough, blood was trailing out of the wound and a sharp piece of ceramics was stabbed in her flesh. 

Through the veil of tears, she noticed a guard coming to look who was causing all the commotion. 

She thought she heard a faint “Quick, get a healer! And the Ranger!” Tess bit her lip. She was in so much trouble. Her escape plan would be uncovered as soon as the Ranger looked at the tiny fragments. She royally screwed this up. Now she had to hope that the Ranger coming down here wouldn’t be Farrel. Wait, was he even here? Either way, she’d get the lecture of a lifetime. Maybe, just maybe, it crossed her mind, an escape attempt would be added onto her ever-growing list of committed crimes. 

She had enough common sense not to take the ceramics out and wait for the healer instead. She was fighting back tears the whole time. The wound still hurt like hell but the sharp pain had subsided and it stung. Tess’ eyes flicked towards the door. There was a woman in a beige dress coming, holding a bag in her hands. And, of course, that was almost a routine by now, a man in the typical Ranger clothing. Yep, she was so screwed right now. 

“Oh my goodness, what happened here?” the woman, presumably the healer, cried when she saw the mess. Tess let out a choked laugh. 

“I can explain,” she bit out immediately. Crowley opened the door and the healer crouched next to Tess. 

“You’d better,” she said, taking her foot into her hands and examining it. Tess took in her expression. It was kind and focused, she seemingly wasn’t bothered by the fact that she was helping a criminal. 

“This will hurt,” she informed her briefly before, without any prior warning, taking out the shard. Tess screamed. She reached to her foot with her hands, to clasp it, whatever, just to make the pain stop, but she was halted by the healer. 

“Do not touch it with your filthy hands!” she said sternly. “Do you want to catch an infection?” Tess frowned through the tears. Why, yes, maybe she did. Lynn would die tomorrow morning and she’d follow soon after. 

She had no idea why, but she stopped. She let the healer stitch the wound (it was even more painful and she had to clench her teeth all the time to keep herself from crying) and apply some salve. 

The woman patted her calf after she had bandaged her foot. 

“It’s done. Now, how did this happen?” 

Tess’ cheeks reddened. An embarrassing moment was coming and she hadn’t thought up any excuse. Thinking of convincing excuses was pretty hard when one was in enormous pain. 

“Euh, I had breakfast,” she started, hoping that her face was convincing enough. She didn’t have to convince the healer, but Crowley. 

“The plate slipped from my hands and broke. And, I guess, I must’ve stepped on one of the fragments?” 

The healer nodded, to her relief, like it was the most common thing that could have happened to her. Tess took in Crowley’s expression. It was hard to tell if he had believed her story. She had to hope for the best alternative. 

Ten minutes later, when the healer left, she got her answer. The Ranger returned, briefly looked at her bandaged foot, leaned on the wall opposite of the door to her cell, and remarked: “Was it worth it?” 

It took Tess almost a minute before she figured out what he meant. 

“Well,” she said. “No, but, you know, it was necessary.” It didn’t make any sense, but she was still working with the least improbable version, that he believed her lie. 

“That escape attempt wouldn’t have worked,” Crowley said, smirking. Tess frowned at him. Yes, she knew that too now, thank you very much. She opened her mouth like a fish left on air, then shut up. 

“How did you know?” she asked. She was very mindful of her facial expression when she told the lie. How could he have possibly noticed anything? Crowley gestured to the ground. 

“The powder,” he explained. The girl realized that he was right. There was indeed a small pile of crumbled ceramics. Tess clenched her fist. Crap. 

“I also wouldn’t recommend using straw as a key. It tends to break,” he smiled. Tess closed her eyes. Very amusing, she thought bitterly. Like he wouldn’t try everything he could to escape if he was the one locked here. 

“Couldn’t you just add that on my list of crimes?” she asked, completely dejected. The Ranger clicked his tongue. 

“I’m telling you, you won’t get to your friend,” he repeated, still amused. Tess fought the urge to roll her eyes. She had heard that one too many times already. 

“Can you at least tell her something?” she asked, her head low. She tried to appear submissive, to get him to cooperate. She was never a skilled manipulator but she kept on discovering new talents every day she was locked in here. 

Crowley tilted his head. “I can do that,” he said. 

“Tell her I’m sorry.” 

Lynn was quietly laying on the floor the whole day. There wasn’t much to do. Even if her feet weren’t cuffed to the wall, she wouldn’t know what to do. Tess was the one with weird coping mechanisms, not her. She tried to imagine happier days when she’d practice archery with her now confiscated bow, spend time with her friends and overall to times when she wasn’t, oh, she didn’t even know, in jail in the Middle Ages, waiting for her death? 

Hours passed by and she knew that soon she had to sleep. But she couldn’t. Afraid of getting nightmares about dying, she tried to stay awake. She even started to pace around, anything, just not to fall asleep.

“What on Earth are you doing in the middle of the night?” she heard a familiar voice saying. Lynn looked to the door and saw Crowley standing in front of it, his head tilted. 

“What does it look like?” she replied sarcastically. The Ranger stood there and Lynn became a bit irritated. She walked towards him, as far as the cuffs let her, and crossed her arms. 

“I could ask you the same question, ya know?” She was confident at first, but when Crowley opened the door and walked into her cell, she let it go. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said it,” the girl apologized. Lynn went back to the wall and sat on the ground, her knees up and her arms around it. 

Crowley came closer and she thought he would lecture her, but instead, he sat down against the wall on her left side. He remained silent for a couple of minutes, then spoke up.

“I have a message from your friend.” Lynn’s head shot up, a trace of surprise in her eyes. 

“What did she say?” she asked when the man didn’t continue by himself.

“She said that she was sorry,” he replied. “That’s all that she said, but to be honest, I don’t know what she meant by it.” He looked at Lynn and saw that she had lowered her head again. 

“Because she thinks it’s her fault that I ended up here. But if I was fast enough to outrun Farrel, we wouldn’t even be captured,” Lynn said in a low voice. 

“You’re sure about that?” he smirked. 

Lynn glanced at him and smiled. “No, I don’t think we wouldn’t be captured. But at least not in the middle of the night, after waking up in a strange and unfamiliar place. Maybe the next day, but then we wouldn’t be that scared.” 

“You’re still retelling that story, aren’t you?” Crowley said, his legs now crossed over each other. 

“I’m not allowed to lie, so yeah, I keep telling that story,” was her response.

He frowned. Her last words made him think. What if she was telling the truth and that she was indeed from the future, then how did she end up here?

“Let’s assume you’re right,” he started, noticing how she lifted her head and looked at him with her most sarcastic face. “How did you end up here? Some kind of travel mechanism, or magic?” She shrugged. 

“If only we would know, Tess and I would be back home already.” 

Saying that word made her intensely sad. Her will to talk was gone and Crowley noticed it too. He stood up and walked towards the door.

“Crowley? Does it hurt?” Two frightened eyes looked at him from the darkness of the cell. 

He walked back to Lynn and crouched in front of her. 

“It won’t hurt. If someone is executed here, we will make sure they won’t suffer. It’s not nice to experience it and also not a pleasant sight for us.” 

She felt some relief but needed to know one more thing. 

“I didn’t hear what the King said after he had told that I was sentenced to death,” she said, but so low, he could barely hear her. 

“It felt like your world fell apart and that’s why you didn’t hear it, that’s what you mean?” She nodded in agreement. 

“We used to do hanging, but it happened from time to time that the knot wasn’t done properly and the person felt too much pain,” he answered after thinking about his words. 

“So you will be beheaded. The sword will be checked just before it happens and then in one swift move...” he stopped his explanation when he realised she cried silently and shivered. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that in so many details. Just telling you it won’t hurt would’ve been enough.” 

Before he left her cell he turned his head one last time. “I hope you’ll get some sleep.” She shook her head. “I won’t be able to sleep. After dawn I can sleep as much as I want.”

Crowley was confused, that even now, she could be so sarcastic. 

Lynn sighed and looked at the empty place where the Ranger had sat. Sleep wouldn’t be possible and, like always when Lynn couldn’t sleep, she started to think. She thought back to the moment everything had begun, almost a week ago now. Crying wasn’t possible; she had shed all her tears already. She remembered how she and Tess arrived here and how her bow was even here. Which was odd, because she had left it at home. The bracelets weren’t on their wrists anymore. Suddenly it struck her. The bracelets. 

“Maybe I do know how we got here,” Lynn whispered to herself. 

Her last thought before falling asleep was the conversation with Crowley. It had been short, but she was more than glad to at least talk with someone before she would die and that he had even taken effort to bring her a message from Tess.

Lynn woke up with a strange feeling. No, she thought, I don’t feel anything at all. She had accepted that she had to die, but she wasn’t ready. There were so many things she still wanted to do. She wasn’t even that old! She had her whole life in front of her!

The door unlocked and Crowley was standing in the portal. Lynn stood up, expecting to be taken to the execution place, but instead, the Ranger told her it would be later on the day. 

“Why? And at what time then?” she asked.

“We have a trial for your friend as well, but due to a fault, it had been placed at dawn, instead of the afternoon. And since the King has to be present, we will postpone your execution.” 

“Great, now I have even more hours to stress out!” Lynn complained. While she was glad that she had a few more hours alive left, she really didn’t appreciate the Ranger giving her hope, then she’d have to come to terms with her impending doom again.

“I can also take you there now and then your friend would be a total wreck,” he said, a devilish smile on his lips. 

“No, no need to do that. I’ll wait here until Tess is done. Well, her trial I mean.” 

“Crowley? May I ask you for a favour?” He nodded.

“Could you tell her she needs to listen, even though I won’t be around anymore to be used as a threat? And also that she shouldn’t be angry with herself, it’s not her fault.” She smiled when Crowley nodded again. 

The man left her alone and walked through the corridor to Tess.

He saw the girl laying in the straw, just like the other days. Her will to live was slowly fading away. She didn’t know about the small mistake in the papers and thought that, by now, Lynn would have already been executed.

Tess didn’t glace at the door when Crowley opened it.

She couldn’t even look at the man. He was responsible for killing her friend. 

The question was on her lips, but she couldn’t ask it. It was too painful.

“Get up, time to get dressed. You have ten minutes,” he said, giving her also some clothes. 

Tess looked at him as he was a complete fool. He didn’t appear as sad as you would suspect after witnessing a death penalty. 

“You really think I’ll dress myself in here when you can see me?” He had already thought she would respond something like that. 

“Yes, and I would hurry up since you only have eight minutes left!” Since she was in the last cell, he went two cells to the left, giving her enough privacy to undress and put on the skirt and undershirt. When she was done, Tess called the Ranger. 

“I’m ready.” She didn’t know what was going on, but she expected to be led to the King, for her own trial. 

The Ranger entered her cell and cuffed her hands and feet. 

“In case you want to have a revenge for the last time,” he said, the same dangerous glint in his eyes. Tess shook her head. “It won’t matter, Lynn’s gone.”

Tess took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. She couldn’t have a panic attack now!

“As far as I know,” Crowley began, “your friend is in her cell.” 

Tess narrowed her eyes. “What?” she said. 

“You heard me. Your friend is still in her cell. There’s an error in the paperwork and both your trial and her executions were set at dawn. But the King needs to attend both. So we moved her execution to noon.” On one hand, Tess was relieved to hear that her friend was still alive, but on the other hand, she felt miserable. Now Lynn had to wait even longer before her nightmare would end.

“Come on, we can’t let him wait,” the Ranger said, taking the girl out of her cell and upstairs to the courtroom. 

Tess had to squint her eyes because of the light, but after a few seconds, she could see without problems. 

She was led to the same room as Lynn and she too assumed it was the throne room. She saw the throne but, unlike at Lynn’s trial, there weren’t a lot of people. Only she and Crowley. “His Majesty, King Duncan!” the same guard announced.

Tess knew how to act in the presence of a King, so she knew what to look at and how to react. 

“These are some uncommon days, don’t you think Crowley?” King Duncan asked the Ranger. 

“Yes, Sire, very uncommon if I may say.” 

King Duncan turned his attention to the girl. She too looked not at her best, but not as bad as Lynn.

“Tell me your full name, girl,” he asked.

“My name is Tess Nová, Your Majesty,” she responded.

“I assume that you will retell the same story as your friend?” She nodded and added: “I’m not supposed to lie, Sire, so yes, I will retell the same story as Lynn.” 

“I see,” he said. Then, King Duncan took a sheet of parchment and looked at it. 

“This is quite a list, young lady. Lying, running away from a Ranger, attacking a Ranger, even multiple times, do I need to go on?” He looked at her from his throne.

“You forgot “multiple tries to escape”, Your Majesty,” she answered. 

She could hear Crowley sighing and King Duncan tilted his head. 

“What did you say?” he asked her.

“It was a desperate try to get to her friend, Sire. I already told her multiple times she won’t see her anymore.” Before, he had told her that with a smile, but now he was dead serious. 

Tess lowered her head. They said that as if it was something strange, but wouldn’t they do anything to get to their friends if they were in trouble?

“Tell me about her,” the King asked. Tess was confused. Why would she do that? It would only break her heart to tell how great her friend was, only to know that she would die within some hours.

“I can’t Sire, it’s too painful.” 

Instead, the King asked her about the murders and Tess reacted firmly that Lynn couldn’t be the murderer. 

“Why not?” he asked her. 

“Well, first of all: she doesn’t kill for fun. She can shoot, but would never aim at a person. Never.” The look in her eyes was firm. 

“And how about you? Can you shoot?” She shook her head again.

“No, your Majesty. I can’t shoot. I only had one lesson in archery.” 

King Duncan nodded. That explained why she had placed the weapons aside when she attacked Farrel. 

They asked her some more questions, including about Lynn’s bow and arrows, and then the King had to decide about her penalty. 

“Tess Nová, the evidence is clear. You will be sent to prison for a time of twenty-five years. If you behave well, there could be a chance of sentence reduction, but I wouldn’t count on that.” With a nod to Crowley, King Duncan made clear the trial was over.

They both bowed before leaving the room. Twenty-five years. I will be in my forties when I get free, Tess thought.

In her cell, Crowley took the cuffs off and Tess fell onto the straw. She would rot in a cell with no friends around. She turned her face towards the wall, not seeing that Crowley was still with her. 

“Your friend was glad to hear your message,” he said. “She even had one for you.” 

Tess didn’t respond. “She said that you had to listen, no matter what. And that you shouldn’t be too angry with yourself. It’s not your fault.” 

The girl remained silent and the Ranger took it as a sign to leave. 

He went upstairs and prepared the last things for the execution.

Lynn was sitting in her cell, counting the time until she would be taken out of that hell. 

She didn’t have to wait long. Crowley entered her cell and she could see the feet cuffs in his hands, as well as a rope. He closed the door and came closer.

While he took the cuffs of her feet, he also gave her a small note. “I asked if your friend wanted to write something. In this way she’s with you,” he said friendly. 

He put on the feet cuffs and tied her wrists together. After that, he helped her on her feet and led her towards the door. Lynn followed him silently. 

Her heartbeat rose when they walked the stairs. 

It was like in her dream, but this time only Crowley was with her.

They approached a field and there she saw a wooden block. Her throat was dry and she stopped. One more time she glanced at the castle. Crowley pulled her arm. 

“Come on, Lynn, it will only take longer this way.” 

She walked further and was relieved to see that only the King, Crowley and the executioner were there. Halt and Gilan stayed home, but would get a report as well.

Lynn stood now in front of the wooden block. 

“Put your hands over it and place your head on it,” the executioner said. 

She did as she was told. Lynn hesitated for a few seconds. “Does it matter where I look at?” she asked. The man shook his head. 

“May I look at the forest then?” She couldn’t bear to look at Tess’ direction. 

“Yes, you may,” Crowley responded. 

Lynn laid her head on the wood and felt how her hair was put aside to make place for the sword. The man placed his sword on her neck, to see in which angle he had to cut. 

She felt the coldness of the blade and shivered. Tears appeared and she didn’t care anymore. “It will be done within some seconds,” the executioner said to her. 

He lifted his sword in the air. “I’m sorry Tess, I really am,” Lynn cried.

Crowley and King Duncan looked at each other. They didn’t like to see or do these kinds of penalties. But the law was clear. King Duncan nodded and the man swung his sword down. Lynn was terrified and waited until her head would be separated from her body. 

At the last second, just before the sword would divide her head and her body, they heard a loud scream. 

“STOP!” 

The sword stopped on her neck and Lynn couldn’t believe it. Wasn’t that Farrel’s voice? What was he doing here? The King had the same question. 

“What is going on?” he asked when the Ranger was close enough to hear it. 

Farrel hurried towards the small group and they could see he had something to tell. 

“There’s another murder case in Caraway fief, but, even more important: there is new evidence.”

The executioner put his sword aside, giving Lynn a chance to lift her head and look at the man. “What kind of evidence?” she asked. Could it be that they found out she wasn’t the murderer?

“After some research, I discovered there’s a pattern. They were all killed with arrows, with three black feathers and the arrow shaft was made of ash wood.” 

Lynn’s eyes widened. “My arrows are made of oakwood and have two red feathers and one black one!” she almost screamed. All eyes were suddenly focused on her and her cheeks reddened. “I’m sorry, I’ll remain quiet,” she said and laid her head down.

“Yes, I figured that out when I came back.” 

But what made him think that she wasn’t the murderer? 

“What does it mean for her?” Crowley asked.

“It means that I don’t think she’s responsible for the murders and isn’t a helper either.”

Lynn never thought she would admit it, but she was glad to see Farrel. 

King Duncan saw how assured the Ranger was of his case and nodded. 

“Well, in that case, she will no longer be accused of the murders and therefore she won’t be beheaded.” He looked at Crowley. “You know where to take her.”

Crowley helped her stand up and walked with her towards the castle. 

Farrel talked with the King and accompanied them afterwards.

They walked downstairs and Lynn recognized it as the way towards her first cell. Could it be, she thought.

They entered the corridor and Crowley gestured the two to wait. 

He walked to Tess’s cell. As soon as he showed his face, Tess turned around. She hated him. How could he show up, just after her friend was killed?!

“Don’t be mad, it’s the law. We have to listen to that. Even your country has rules, right?” he asked her. Tess took some straw in her hands and played with it. She wasn’t going to answer him. Lynn was dead and she would stay in prison for twenty-five years.

The red-haired Ranger opened her cell. 

“Stand up,” Crowley said sternly. 

Tess didn’t listen. “I don’t know, but wasn’t it that someone had told you to listen?” 

She clenched her hands into fists and her knuckles become white. How dared he to say that! “Get up, that’s an order!” Her face was still pointed towards the wall.

“No! I won’t listen, I never will!” she yelled. She couldn’t see it, but Crowley beckoned to Farrel and he came closer. “I can also force you,” he said, a dangerous tone in his voice.

“Ha! You can try, but you will never succeed. Lynn’s dead, remember?” 

“You, my dear lady, are an idiot.” Tess stood up as soon as she heard her voice. 

Lynn was there, alive and safe. Farrel was standing behind her, his left hand on the handle of his knife. 

“You sure about that?” he asked her. 

Lynn set some steps, but Tess was faster. She ran towards her (half of the way jumping on one leg), bumped into her, and made her fall on the ground. Lynn let out a yelp of surprise. Tess hugged her friend and started to say a thousand words. 

“Tess, please, I don’t get any air!” Lynn told her, tapping her arms. 

Her friend let go of her, but not for long. As soon as Lynn was standing again, she swung her arms around her friend again. The Rangers gave them a couple of minutes but then took Lynn away. She was placed in her old cell. Still not the best, but she wasn’t cuffed anymore and now she had Tess to talk with. The friends looked at each other through the hole in the separation wall and smiled. 

“Girl, I’m really glad you’re still alive! I legit thought you were dead!” Tess said, her eyes watering. This time, however, they were tears of happiness. Sure, they were still in prison but there was no impending execution, they weren’t separated anymore. 

Lynn passed her hand through the hole. Tess grasped her hand. It was comforting. 

“I’m here to stay now, don’t worry. I hope your mental breakdown wasn't that bad,” she smirked. She was smiling, but her eyes showed concern. Tess beamed, but it wasn’t sincere, Lynn knew. Her friend was only pretending everything was okay. 

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad,” she said, still having that smile plastered on her face. “Had a panic attack, cried myself to sleep, attacked Crowley, stepped on sharp thingy, got lectured, and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. Nothing much,” she summarized the main events that had happened during their four days of separation. 

Lynn blinked. “What was that middle thing?” she asked, frowning. 

“Attacked Crowley?” Tess asked. She sincerely didn’t realize Lynn meant the bandaged foot. 

Lynn facepalmed. “Well, that too, silly, but the leg? How did that happen? You were fine when I was moved.” She couldn’t believe it. She was gone for four days and Tess managed to injure herself! And she wasn’t even starting on attacking a Ranger, again! Honestly, she was surprised her friend didn’t have another black eye. 

Tess let go of Lynn’s hand and she slid down the wall. Her leg needed a break. Lynn’s leg, on the other hand, was getting better. Her knee still bothered her, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t get through. 

“Yeah, that’s a funny story,” Tess laughed. “I was actually trying to escape.” 

Lynn snorted. That was too funny. Count on her friend to mess up an escape plan. However, it touched her that she was trying to get them both out, even if it didn’t go according to the plan. She sat down on the floor too. They had all eternity now to talk. 

Meanwhile, in another part of the castle, in a small room with a window wide open, two Rangers were sitting. There were two mugs of coffee standing in front of them on a table. A fresh gust of wind came in through the window and Crowley put a book on the papers that threatened to fly everywhere. He then leaned into the chair and rested his hand on his thighs. 

"So you believe this Lynn didn't commit the murders," he started. "You said her arrows are different from those the culprit uses." Farrel nodded and sipped his coffee. 

"Indeed, they are. Furthermore, maybe there really is some truth to their story," Farrel said and this got Crowley's attention. Was it really possible that those two were truly from the future? He arched a brow, waiting for the Caraway Ranger to continue. 

"When I asked around in the fief, no one ever saw two girls of their description anywhere. According to the innkeeper, they had just," he fell silent as if thinking of the word he was about to use wouldn't sound silly. "They just appeared there. Out of blue. Never came into the inn." 

"Very well," Crowley nodded. "Then let's assume they are indeed from the future. How did they get here? Was it a coincidence or did they transport deliberately?" He leaned for his cup of coffee, his red hair falling over the shoulder. 

"I don't think they're here wilfully, from my and the innkeeper's experience, they seemed scared from the new surroundings," Farrel informed him, briefly looking out of the window on the blue sky. 

“This calls for another interrogation,” Crowley sighed, sipping his coffee. “Honestly, it’s a wonder these girls haven’t killed themselves yet with how much trouble they get into.” 

Farrel smirked. “Is that why you come down there so much? To make sure they don’t get into trouble?” 

The Ranger Commandant shrugged, smiling. 

“What can I say? It’s entertaining.” 


	6. Some yummy food, finally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One character continues being an idiot, one is going insane and hiding things she shouldn't and both characters should rest while they still can

It was nearing 4 am and Tess was laying on the straw, breathing quietly, and fast asleep. Her sleep was dreamless and she didn’t toss and turn around. 

The same couldn’t be said for Lynn, unfortunately. Ever since she fell asleep last night, she’d been turning and messing up the straw she was laying on. Her dreams were full of pain; both physical and mental. She crashed into the wall two times, creating a noise loud enough for the guards to go check what was causing it. However, as Tess noticed two days ago, they weren’t very smart and they couldn’t believe that no one was trying to escape. 

Soft moans made their way into Tess’ consciousness. The girl squinted her eyes. What was the time? It had to be very early, maybe she should go to sleep again- 

Suddenly, she picked up a low noise. Her sleepy mind didn’t understand at first, what was that? The noise came a second time and all of a sudden, she knew. She recognized it. 

Tess shot up from her laying position, whispering: “Lynn?” 

No answer came. Tess started feeling uneasy as she scrambled to her feet. She grabbed the bars in their little hole and stuck her nose through them. 

“Lynn?” she repeated before her gaze fell over her sleeping friend. She cursed quietly when she realized that she was, in fact, still sleeping. Her eyes followed Lynn one more time as she tossed and buried her head in the straw. That’s when she knew she had to wake her up. She couldn’t just bear to look at Lynn’s suffering. 

“Lynn!” she called loudly. At this point she didn’t care if the guards came to check on them. She needed to see her friend awake so she could help her. She felt so useless here, behind a wall where she couldn’t reach her. Lynn didn’t even stir. 

“Lynn!” Tess screamed, not caring one bit about other prisoners’ sleep. She watched as Lynn opened one eye, her gaze sliding along the cell, finally stopping on her. 

“Are you alright?” she went. If it was possible, she’d stick her head through the bars but seeing her friend awake had calmed her down a bit. Lynn blinked. She was sleepy but felt incredibly exhausted. Tess noticed she was shivering and beads of sweat glistened on her forehead. 

Lynn looked at Tess, her eyes now wide and hunted. “N… No, I d-don’t think so,” she said. Tess opened her mouth to try and calm her down but the grumbling of a guard’s armor interrupted her. 

The guard stood in front of their cells, his hand on the pommel of his sword, and thundered: “What is going on in here?” Since Lynn still looked absolutely shaken up, it was Tess who shrugged and said: “Nothing. I promise.” It was evident that the guard didn’t believe her. She tried to muster the sincerest smile (bleugh) she could do. She felt stupid, beaming like this. The corners of her mouth hurt. She hadn’t smiled for so long it felt unreal. 

Fortunately for them, it seemed like this time, there’d be no consequences of their actions. The guard too was keeping his eyes open only by the sheer will of mind, and also the presumably fear of a sergeant coming down here to check up on him. 

“Don’t let it happen again!” he ordered, turning on his heels and returning to where he came from. Tess relaxed and had to massage her cheeks to get rid of the cramps. 

“Lynn!” she turned her attention back to her friend. “What happened? Nightmares? Do you remember anything?” she asked, her tone insistent. She had to know if Lynn was fine. “No, wait, maybe it’d be better if you don’t remember anything,” she continued, completely immersed in her rambling. 

Lynn smiled. It was a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless. “You could try asking one thing at a time,” she said. While Tess sometimes had a habit of rambling hundreds of questions in rapid succession, she had usually stopped after Lynn’s first interjection. 

The Dutch girl was shivering and she hugged herself; not to feel warmer (even though it was cold) but to feel at least some comfort. Tess was in the cell next to hers, but nothing could compare to physical comfort her friend couldn’t provide right now. 

“Tess, I-” her voice broke and tears welled up in her eyes. Her friend stuck her hand through the bars, ignoring the bad feeling that she wouldn’t be able to pull her arm back through the tiny gap between the bars. Lynn shifted closer to the wall, not feeling strong enough to stand up, and took her hand. 

“I was,” she took a deep breath. “Standing. On the scaffold.” Tess raised an eyebrow. She didn’t know that word but wasn’t about to ask. She needed Lynn to tell her, to get rid of all the feelings that had bottled up in her mind, to let them all out. 

“A rope was put on my neck.” With her free hand, Lynn touched her throat. She felt a light stinging there, she didn’t know if it was a remainder of her dream or not, but it hurt. Now Tess understood what she meant. She was sentenced to death in her dream, but it was hanging instead of being beheaded. Nevertheless, it was a death dream. 

“Oh Lynn,” she choked out. She was trying to stay strong for her friend but she was failing. Tears were making their way into her eyes. She couldn’t bear seeing Lynn like this. 

“You don’t have to continue,” she said but Lynn shook her head, her breathing becoming rapid. 

“No, Tess, I have to,” Lynn refused to accept the offer, and continued: “I was falling and I… I couldn’t breathe.” Lynn hung her head, tears falling onto her shirt. Sobs shook through her whole body. It was hard to breathe. She struggled to take a fresh breath and Tess increased her grip on her hand. It was all she could do in these circumstances. 

“I can sing you something?” Tess offered, unsure of how Lynn could be calmed down. She knew some songs by heart but was never a good singer. She sang falsely, always. 

Lynn’s laugh sounded strangled. “No, thanks. You don’t want to call the guards again.” Tess nodded. It wouldn’t be wise to disturb the guards for a second time that night. They had enough problems as it was. 

They both stayed silent, holding hands. That’s when Tess noticed a dark spot on the straw where Lynn was laying previously. She narrowed her eyes. It looked dirty red, almost like…

“Lynn?” she asked. The auburn-haired girl looked up and hummed.

“What is that?” Tess let go of her hand and pointed at the spot. “It looks like blood.” Lynn turned her head to look at the ground. Sure enough, the straw was coloured in one exact spot where Lynn had been laying earlier. 

The older girl frowned. “I don’t know,” she said, making Tess raise her eyebrow. Lynn knew. She was aware of where the blood came from but she didn’t want to worry Tess. Her mind flashed back to that uneasy feeling on the back of her neck. Even though Farrel interrupted the execution, he wasn’t fast enough. The edge of the sword had touched her neck already. During the procedure, Lynn’s hair was on a side, making her neck clearly visible, but as soon as she was allowed to get up, her hair hid the wound again. 

When Tess wasn’t looking, she lightly examined it. The bleeding had stopped but it was a long scratch. Lynn could only hope she’d get no infection. She could feel the hair on her neck being glued together by dried blood. She didn’t want anyone to know. Not even Tess. 

“I must’ve scratched myself on the straw when I had that nightmare,” she said, smiling sheepishly. Tess narrowed her eyes. 

“You sure you’re fine?” she asked, her voice full of concern. Lynn briefly avoided eye contact but then looked at Tess and suggested that they might get some more sleep. 

Tess nodded. “If you’ve calmed down enough.” She let the end of the sentence be in the air as she tried to pull her arm back into her cell. Which, she immediately discovered, was no easy feat. 

After trying unsuccessfully with Lynn watching, she cursed. 

“Fuck, I’m stuck.”

Her friend chuckled. “You’re a disaster child. Try twisting your arm, maybe it’ll work.” 

Tess tried it, panic growing inside of her. Finally, she found an angle at which she could pull her arm back to safety of her own cell, scraping parts of her skin off. 

“Ow,” she whined and held up the arm to assess the damage. There were patches of blood, but it seemed that it wouldn’t be anything grave. Three minutes later, all bleeding stopped, but it still stung like hell. Tess sighed, relieved. There would be scabbing on some places though and she was terrified to face the healer who would be coming in the morning to take a look at her foot. She was screwed, AGAIN. 

She shook her arm. “Getting back to sleep sounds like a good idea,” she said, but Lynn was already laying down with her eyes closed. 

Wow, she must’ve been really tired, Tess thought, preparing to do the same. 

Unbeknownst to both of them, neither slept much after this little event. Lynn was afraid of having another nightmare, so she laid there, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. Tess was thinking about Lynn and her nightmare. She really hoped her friend was alright. They both knew by the second night in this world that they would leave mentally scarred if they ever left at all. 

The morning came uncomfortably fast. Soon, they were given breakfast. Tess loved bread and cheese, but even she was beginning to get tired from having the same food three times a day. 

The healer came in with both of the Rangers today. The door to Tess’ cell was opened with Lynn watching. 

A few seconds later there was a faint: “Oh dear, what did you do to yourself this time?” 

Tess gave her a sheepish smile. 

“That’s another long story that you don’t want to hear.” The issue, however, was far from over. 

Farrel came closer. “But we would like to hear it.” 

“We have a lot of time on our hands,” Crowley added, smiling. 

Tess rolled her eyes. It wasn’t like she was trying to escape again. But, she realized, the Rangers had no way to know that. She let the healer re-bandage her foot and pointed at the hole between her and Lynn’s cells. 

“I got stuck there,” she explained, giving them the most innocent expression. The healer gaped at her like a fish and she shrugged. 

“What?” 

From the simple corridor in between the cells, Farrel smirked. This was indeed funny. 

The healer silently worked on the foot and then she examined Tess’ arm. Fortunately, it wasn’t anything big and she deemed Tess almost completely healthy (apart from the foot). She was already packing the herbs and bandage when Tess grasped her wrist lightly. The woman looked at her, a question reflecting in her eyes. 

“Could you please take a look at Lynn? I think she scratched herself at night and there was blood on the straw,” she requested quietly, hoping that the Rangers didn’t hear her. They did, however, and shared a look. 

“I will see what I can do,” the healer promised, and headed out of the cell. Tess remained sitting on the ground. Her foot was healing nicely, according to the healer, but she was reminded that she couldn’t put all her weight on it. Which was, note the sarcasm, exactly the thing Tess wanted to do as soon as the doctor left her cell. 

Lynn eyed the woman who came into her personal space warily. The healer first examined the straw to find out that there were indeed traces of blood. She looked at Lynn with narrowed eyes. The girl didn’t have any visible injury on her face and her clothes weren’t blood-stained in any way. 

Tess stood up in her cell and was now watching through the small hole. 

The healer looked Lynn over but she couldn’t find any trace of any injury. While Lynn was relieved when she left, this greatly concerned Tess. A lone tear slid down her cheek. 

"We will return in an hour," Crowley announced to them as they prepared to take their leave. Tess huffed. It was already decided that they would fit in prison for half of their lifetime, what did they want now? 

Lynn leaned on the wall that separated them. 

"You know, Crowley's not that bad," she said, making Tess look at her with a surprised expression. She had her own opinion on both Rangers and it consisted mainly of "it's amusing for them to scare us". 

"When I was all alone in the dark cell," Lynn started telling her story, "I wouldn't eat, drink. I was slowly going mad. I wanted to die before it was decided that I'd be executed. But," she looked at Tess, "Crowley came in every morning and evening. He made me reconsider that stupid decision." 

Oh? This was new. Tess looked at the ground. She saw it; Crowley's kindness. Still, she refused to believe what she saw with her own two eyes. Until now. 

"You know, I'm glad he did," Lynn smiled. It was a genuine smile. 

Tess fell on the straw to sit. Her foot still wasn't healed and it was painful to stand on it for long periods of time. 

"Okay, I believe you," she said. "But what about Farrel? What do you think of him?"

Lynn smirked slightly. "To tell you the truth… Farrel was the one who saved my life. He stopped the execution. He had mere seconds to interfere before the sword ended my life." Lynn shivered. It was such an unpleasant memory and she wanted to forget it. However, it was still so fresh and it was difficult not to think about it all the time. 

To think of other things, she asked about Tess’ opinion. 

“Crowley has been… nice to me.” She smirked, remembering the moment of her failed attempts to break free. “He likes to mock me , watch all the mishaps I get into and he’ s being sarcastic a lot.” Lynn smiled.  That indeed sounded like the Ranger she came to know.

“About Farrel. I don’t know, really. He only has been rude to me, not interested in how I was dealing this all.” She widened her arms, indicating about the fact that she was sitting in a cell. “ I can understand that. I’m just another prisoner that he’s brought to justice and he probably doesn’t want to see me ever.  But, since he saved your life,” she stood up again, leaning against the wall and looking Lynn in the eyes. “I’m willing to give him my doubts.” 

They talked more, until the moment Tess really had to sit down. “Lynn, are you okay with it if I take a nap?” 

Lynn answered, laying in her own cell: “Yes, sure.” She didn’t want to nap, scared to have a death dream.  She was absolutely sure she’d have a nightmare where she would be executed again and she wanted to put sleep off for as long as she could. When she was sure that Tess was asleep, she collected the  bloodied  straw and hid it in a corner. She tried not to think of it, but her neck hurt a lot. However, she didn’t want anyone to look at it. Not that she didn’t trust the healer, but she didn’t want to be taken away, again. She didn’t want to be alone and separated from Tess. The last time that happened, she almost died. No, it’d be better to keep it quiet and hopefully I won’t get sick, Lynn thought.

An hour later, the Rangers showed up again. This time they had ropes and each entered a cell. Tess obeyed , although with an exasperated expression, when Crowley asked her to give him her hands. She glanced to her left, seeing Farrel in Lynn’s cell. He felt someone staring at him and he knew very well who it was. 

“As long as you do what Crowley asks you to do, there won’t be anything to be scared of, girl,” he said, now looking her in the eyes. 

Lynn didn’t like how Farrel used her to make Tess cooperate. 

“Do you really have to do that every single time again?” she asked him when he was tying her hands. She backed up when he turned his attention to her. The Ranger didn’t respond, but his smile was more  of a reason to get nightmares. He took the rope  in his hands and led Lynn to the interrogation room, followed by Crowley and Tess. 

They didn’t understand. Why would they do this? They were already sentenced  to an eternity in prison , so why were they taken out of their cells? 

The Rangers took them to the  now  well-known room and  made them  sit  on the chairs. Crowley took place on the other side of the table while Farrel leaned against the wall close to the girls. 

“In case you want to try something,” he said. Tess and Lynn shared a confused  look  (why would they even want to try to escape?) and focused on the man in front of them.

“You’re both curious why you’re sitting here again, aren’t you?” The girls didn’t move.  It was kind of obvious, wasn’t it?

“Right. Lynn, you were accused of murders and being a helper. Evidence directed towards you, but now it seems like you’re not the one we’re looking for.” Lynn couldn’t help herself . They were figuring this out just now? After she had been sentenced to death?

“No, really?” she said sarcastically. “Every time Tess and I told you that I’m not responsible for that, you didn’t want to believe it. But now, all of sudden, you think I’m not? What made that happen, hmm? You got some brain cells?” 

Before she had uttered those cursed words,  Farrel had been relaxed,  casually leaning against the wall when she reacted, but th ose  last words were an insult. He took his knife and placed it on her right side. 

“Maybe you want to reconsider your last sentence?” he whispered in her ear, his voice low and with a dangerous tone. Lynn knew very well what  she should  do, but she was too angry. She didn’t apologize, but even pressed her side more on the knife, while looking at him defiantly, with a furious glance. 

“Very well then.” Farrel placed his knife back in its scabbard and went back to his place. Lynn would be punished, but not here. 

“Did you really have to do that?” Tess hissed at her. “You’ll be in trouble later on!” Her friend shrugged. 

“I don’t care. I was accused of murders, almost beheaded and only now they say I’m not the one they are looking for. Sorry, but wouldn’t you be mad?” 

Tess was shocked. She and Lynn had never had an argument before.  Ever since she went to the Netherlands, they were super close, never arguing about anything.  But  it could be easily accounted to stress  she had gone through the last days, Tess thought.

“Are we done?” Crowley didn’t want to spend his time on this kind of things, but he needed information and the only ones who could  offer them more information were sitting in front of them. He had given Farrel a warning look when the Ranger threatened the girl, making clear that he didn’t want to take care of another wound.

“What did you do the night you arrived here?” Tess sighed and Lynn even refused to answer. “And no, we don’t want to know how I captured you, but rather about what you saw before that, about what was happening in the village,” Farrel added. 

Tess frowned. It had been a week ago that they were taken prisoner. She dug in her memories, hoping to find some sort of clue to help them. Maybe, she thought, it will have a positive influence on my sentence as well?

Lynn stared at the wall behind Crowley and thought back to that evening. It was night, they didn’t see anything and were too afraid to even pay attention to it all. She shook her head. Wasn’t there really anything that could help them? 

“Nothing that could help us?” Tess shook her head. No, she couldn’t think of anything . Her mind was suddenly as blank as an exam paper . 

“What about you?” Lynn was to focused to hear it. Tess poked her with her elbow and Lynn looked at her, eyes widened. She knew that look.

“Remember how we saw that  someone caused a fire,  trying to distract Gilan?” Tess  shook her head. She knew who Gilan was, of course, but she didn’t know anything about someone trying to distract him. Lynn’s eyes widened as she realized her mistake. She never told Tess about Gilan! She had been too preoccupied with her own problems that she absolutely forgot about that. Briefly, she described what she knew . The Rangers bent closer to her. “I can’t remember it very well anymore, but I saw his face. Just a couple of seconds, but I would recognize him if I see him again.” 

This was some good news!  Farrel and Crowley looked at each other hopefully. They had a chance to finally catch this murderer. According to the latest news, he had moved from Caraway Fief but was still at loose, casing chaos. However, he had never strayed too far from Caraway, staying close and sometimes committing terrible crimes there. Farrel was impatient to return home. It felt strange, to be stranded in a castle because of some girls.

“What else do you remember?” Farrel asked her. Tess had given up, her mind didn’t want to cooperate and she wasn’t that good in remembering details. Lynn, on the other hand, learned new things and added them in her ‘random facts is what you can get’ list she had in her head. Her friend told the Rangers everything she knew and remembered and Crowley wrote it all down, writing neatly at first but his handwriting quickly turned into a disorganized mess as he tried to put it all on paper. Finally, Lynn stopped and couldn’t think of anything more. Crowley shook his hand to get rid of muscle cramps and looked at the other Ranger that was present in the room.

“This sounds like a good list to start the investigation, what do you think about it Farrel?” The Ranger took the parchment and read  through the newly acquired information carefully . “I think we can use this information.” 

Crowley nodded and then gestured the girls to stand up. Lynn looked at him in an “are you kidding me?” fashion. She had just sat down and now they wanted her to strain her muscles again? No way. Tess didn’t feel like standing up, either. For the first time in weeks (well, it was only a week but who counted, right?) she had the chance to stretch herself on a normal chair instead of laying on the straw in her cell. They simply wanted to enjoy this little bit of freedom.

“Do I have to repeat it?” Crowley asked, exasperated. These girls were so much trouble but for once, they had useful information for them to use. Two defiant glares were looking up at the Ranger. The Commandant sighed, nodding at Farrel. The Caraway Ranger came closer and pulled Lynn up from the chair. She didn’t even try to fight back, there was no use for it. They were going to stay in jail for years anyway. When she saw her best friend being pulled up from her comfortable position on the chair, Tess stood up, not wanting to get into the same situation.

The girls were guided back to their cells and the men took the ropes of their hands. Farrel still liked to fasten it a bit more than was necessary and Lynn rubbed her wrists when he had left her  to get some feeling back in her hands . 

The Rangers didn’t show up for the next couple of hours, only to bring them their lunch. Lynn was slowly getting sick of  being fed only  bread, water and cheese the whole day and refused to eat it , sitting in the corner of her cell, leaning against the cold stony walls.

“Lynn, you should eat it,” Tess told her through the small hole. 

“I know, but I’m not taking it anymore. My stomach wants to see something else instead of this,” she replied, pointing at the food. 

“Same, I like it, but after eight days I’m also done with it. Maybe we could get something else if we asked nicely?” Tess suggested. She sat down on the straw, waiting for Lynn to ask the question. “Why do I have to be the one to ask?” 

“Well, you're the nicer one. You didn’t attack them.” Lynn sighed.  Was there something else she didn’t know? Tess was referring to the guards, did she by any chance attack them too? She had no idea but if Tess believed she was the better person to do it, she could most certainly try.  She gathered her courage and walked to the door. A guard was still there, looking up when Lynn called him. 

“Sir? Is there a possibility to get something else than bread and cheese? We appreciate it, but eating the same food for a whole week is not good for our health.”  Tess smiled from her cell. Lynn was great with the words, trying to gently guilt trip the guard with saying things about their deteriorating health. 

Just like Tess had already noticed, the guards weren’t that smart. However, this one looked a bit more intelligent than his colleagues.  It wasn’t that easy to manipulate him.

“What do you mean by that girl?” He wasn’t that dumb, but why would a prisoner complain about the food? They should be grateful they got something to eat in the first place!  They could have very well go without food for a few days! 

Lynn opened her mouth to reply, but he already had an answer.  His armor rattled as he stabbed the shaft of his spear on the ground angrily.

“This is all you two will get! Eat it or leave it.” Then, he turned around and walked away, leaving them alone once again. Lynn looked at her friend with an apologetic smile.

“You heard him Tess: bread, cheese and water it is.”

A few hours later , Crowley came  in carrying  plates  with their dinner , but Lynn told him he could take them with him back to where he came from.

“We still have the food that we had for lunch, so no need to bring dinner.” He came closer and looked in their cells. 

“Why aren’t you eating it?”  he asked. It was confusing. The girls were together again, there was no need to reject food, right? “You should, otherwise you’ll get sick.”

Tess went to the door, hoping to convince Crowley to bring them something else than that goddamned food.  She was slouching, her hands kept on her sides, trying to appear as submissive as she could. To be completely honest, she didn’t even know she was doing that but an instinct told her that it might win her some points so she didn’t think and just did it.

“Lynn and I really appreciate it that we get food and water daily, but we lose our energy every day we’re stuck in here. We don’t feel as healthy as before and are longing for something else to eat. Vegetables, fruits, anything.” She didn’t know if he would give them what they wanted, but they really needed it. They lacked vitamins and that wasn’t good for both of them. 

“Did you mention it t o the guards ?” the red-haired Ranger asked.  Tess nodded. Why yes, of course they did try, thank you very much. 

“Yes, I did, but the guard said we should be grateful to have at least something to eat,” Lynn added.

Crowley studied them for a minute or two. The Ranger realized that the girls weren’t lying in any way.  They were indeed in bad health. He could see that their faces had become pale and their eyes weren’t as shiny as they should be. 

“I see what I can do, but I can’t promise anything,”  he said finally. He motioned for Tess to step back so he could enter her cell and leave her dinner there. Even if the girls didn’t want to eat their food, he put the dinner on one plate with their lunch. If they were hungry, they’d gladly eat it.

“Thank you anyway for at least trying it,” Tess replied,  standing in the corner of the cell, as far away as she could stay without making Crowley think she was about to do something stupid.

Crowley took the plates with him, but before he left their cells, he gently forced them to at least drink the water.  He took the empty jugs and, once he made it to the kitchens, set them on a table. 

After he had gone to the kitchen, he went upstairs to meet the King. When he entered the room, after knocking three times on the door  and being called inside by Lord Anthony , he sat down in the chair in front of the King’s desk.

While Crowley was downstairs taking care of those two troublemakers , Duncan had read through the papers over and over again, but didn’t know what to do.  For the last fifteen minutes, he had been waiting for the Ranger Commandant to arrive, hoping to get a clearer idea of what he was to do.

“So, tell me your plan once more Crowley,” he asked his friend who was sitting on the other side of the desk.

“ They’ll get a second trial and you will  sentence them for their crimes, as you’d normally do,”  Crowley said, glancing at the King to be sure he understood.  “It’s clear Lynn didn't murder anyone, so  we can scratch  that crime off her list.  It’s still long, but it seems quite good without the ‘multiple murders’ there. ” Duncan took a quill, put the tip in the ink and crossed out the accusation. 

“So, Lynn is now only accused of running away from a Ranger and lying, and Tess too.  Her list has the addition of attacking two Rangers and attempts to escape.” Crowley nodded and Duncan wrote the final words and signed the  papers .

“That part’s done, what’s next?” he sighed and leaned back in his chair. These two papers were so much work and to think he had three stacks of other papers waiting for him...

Crowley leaned forward to take his mug of coffee. He looked out of the window, took a sip and answered his King. “We can give them an amount of time in jail, at least 20 years for both I’d say.” Duncan frowned. 

“Isn’t that too much for Lynn? I mean, she didn’t attack you or Farrel and also didn’t try to get away.”  His face conveyed a lot of conflicted emotions, but confusion was the main one. There was no way for Ms Jonker to spend so much time in prison, in comparison to her friend, who had two more crimes on her list.

“True, but Tess did it  _ for Lynn _ . So in the end, both girls would be guilty of the same criminal offenses. And,” he added, “by doing it like this, we make sure they think twice before acting. Now their own actions will have consequences for the other one as well.” 

Duncan understood what Crowley was saying and it made sense. But there was one thing he  was  still  unsure about. 

“What if they are indeed who they say they are? That would mean they’re innocent, right? What will we do then?” He was a man of the law, however, he wasn’t unreasonable. Innocent people didn’t belong in prison, only guilty ones  deserved such a rough treatment .

“Then we’ll let them go and admit we were wrong,” the Ranger shrugged. 

Duncan tilted his head and smiled. 

“You’re really going to say it if you were wrong?”

“Of course not, I have a reputation to uphold.”

That night, Tess couldn’t sleep. She was concerned about her friend and knew that something was going on. If only Lynn wasn’t so stubborn. She turned on her back and watched the light of the candle  being reflected on the wall. After the healer had checked her foot again  in a few days , she couldn’t ask her to check her friend again. And that frightened her. 

In the neighbouring cell,  Lynn was bleeding, again, but didn’t want anyone to know about it.  She felt that they already had enough problems to deal with. 

On one hand, Tess understood it, however, it could have serious consequences for her health if it got infected. They weren’t at home, meaning that the medical help wasn’t that advanced. She rolled back on her side and tried to not panic. 

Everything  they went through made her stress out a lot. The physical pain was almost gone, but mentally she wasn’t doing well. Heck, she was even worse than before. Her panic attacks happened during the nights, but Tess had been able to control them.  After her last big one, when Lynn didn’t return from her interrogation, she got random chest pains all day and night. Usually, she would just put on a smile and not try to think of it. Lynn was here, she was safe, they were probably never going home- Tess closed her eyes tightly. This was no time to think about that. She’d get all eternity to drown in those thoughts later. For now, she was the one who controlled her mind.

But sooner or later she wouldn’t. She needed comfort, someone to look after her and who’d say “It’s okay, I’m here!”. Yes, Lynn was on the other side of the wall, and being able to hold her hand was already helping, but Tess longed for a comfort hug. She felt alone and her own thoughts were attacking her. It was a wonder she managed a week in here already. 

“No, you’ll be fine. You’ll see,” she mumbled in an effort to calm her upcoming panic attack down, but it didn’t. She broke out in tears and cried silently until she fell asleep.

Lynn thought she had heard something, but wasn’t sure if it was real or in her dream. 

_ She was standing on the platform, all the villagers were looking at her and Tess… her friend was held by some of them, forced to look how her friend would beheaded. Lynn tried to get away, but stopped when she heard and saw how they hurt Tess. “No! Stop it! Let me go!” the girl screamed. _

_ “Let her go! I will listen and do what you want, but please, don’t hurt her!” she cried. They did as she asked and Lynn laid her head down on the wooden block. She closed her eyes and waited for the sword to end her life.  _

_ It didn’t went as she had hoped. The sword wasn’t sharp enough and instead of one swing, he had to cut another time, and again, and- _

She woke up with a scream, sweat on her head and her eyes wide open with fear. Tears fell down and she could hear how someone ran through the corridor to the source of the noise. Lynn was afraid it would be the guard again, but it was Crowley. He had taken the night shift of one of the guards, giving him some free time with his newborn child.

“What’s going on here? You’ll wake up the whole castle!”  he whispered.  He meant it as a joke, but saw how the girl was crying, shivering and clinging her neck. The Ranger sensed something was going on with it, but right now he had to make sure she didn’t scream again.  They could all end up in serious trouble, or, at least, in an uncomfortable situation and boy, did Crowley hate solving these kinds of problems with the nobles.  He took the key and opened her cell. She was sitting against the wall and had made herself as small as possible, trying to find some comfort. He crouched down and gently laid a hand on her arm.  He knew this was no time to be all serious, he needed to show compassion.

“Are you alright Lynn?” he asked, after noticing her face was even more pale than earlier in the day. She looked at him,  her face wet with tears, shook her head slowly and begged him.

“No, I’m not doing well. May I please go and sleep with Tess? I won’t make any noise again and I won’t cause trouble. I will go back in the morning without problems.” 

He opened his mouth, while searching the words.  He had half a mind to say yes, but then they would definitely get into trouble. Even though he was the Ranger Commandant, he still had to uphold the rules.  “I can’t, even if I wanted to. That are the rules. I’m sorry Lynn.”

He walked to the door, leaving her alone with her fears, nightmares and the dark. 

When he was sure the girl couldn’t see him anymore, he stopped and looked back in the direction of her cell.

Crowley had seen it before; people who went crazy after spending too much time in a cell. Those who were sentenced to death had gone insane after a few days alone in the darkest cell they had. 

Both of them were showing signs of going mad, one of them sooner than the other.  Although Lynn showed clear signs of the madness, Tess could hide her emotions well, and she was quiet. Crowley wouldn’t be surprised if she already wasn’t half as mad as Lynn was.

He thought it was cruel to let people suffer in this way, but what could he do? Duncan and he were friends, but he was the King. In these kind of situations, he had to listen to him and follow the laws. 

Tess had been able to sleep a bit, but Lynn had been awake the whole night, her face dried out by her salty tears, her muscles were full of tension and the only thing she could think of was how close she had been with meeting Death. 

When Tess woke up, her first instinct was to check on Lynn, to see if she was still there.

“Lynn? Are-” Tess was shocked to see her like this. The way Lynn sat, looked, moved and mumbled: it was all clear to her. Lynn was losing her mind.

She was almost relieved to see Farrel walking to them. “Farrel!”

He raised an eyebrow,  peacefully walked over and told her to take a few steps back. Tess obeyed,  showing  a concerned glance in Lynn’s direction. 

“What’s going on?” he asked curiously. He had never seen the girl like this, not even when he had taken them prisoner. 

“I understand if you don’t want to help me, but can you please look at Lynn?”  Tess asked, her eyes  filling with tears and she stumbled over her words as she tried to convince the Ranger that her friend was getting mentally sick. 

He closed and locked her cell’s door and went to the other girl. 

Every Ranger had learned  basic  first aid  during their apprenticeship , but there were a few Rangers who had taken some more lessons on first aid. He was one of them and therefore more advanced. 

After entering Lynn’s cell, he  carefully checked her  all over. He demanded that Lynn looked at him, opened her mouth, lifted her hands and there were other orders that Tess didn’t hear. When Lynn failed to do any of these things, Farrel stood up  and confirmed Tess’ fears. 

“Your friend is indeed losing her mind. If she stays here any longer-” He shook his head and Tess didn’t need any more words. 

“Isn’t there anything you could do?”  she asked desperately. “Or can I go to her?” She had no idea what happened in the middle of the night, and therefore didn’t know that such practice was forbidden.

She stared at him, hoping to find some good news in his eyes or to read it on his face, but there wasn’t any. “No, you can’t, just like I can’t do anything for her. Eat your breakfast. We’ll be back in half an hour.”

Neither of them had eaten anything when the Rangers came back. Farrel carried a bowl with water in his hands and Crowley opened Tess’ door first. 

“Get up,” Farrel demanded. 

Tess did so, a bit confused as to what would happen.  The bowl was shoved into her hands and she almost dropped it in her surprise. 

“Here, take this and clean yourself and your friend a bit. You need to be ready in fifteen minutes,”  Farrel said, watching as the girl limped slightly to the cell’s entrance.

Crowley unlocked the other door and Tess was ordered to go into the cell. 

The water was warm and there were two cloths to wash them. She decided that Lynn needed it more and knelt down to wash Lynn’s neck, gently  lifting her hair and cleaning the back of her neck (she was alarmed to see some dirty spots on the wet cloth but didn’t have time to investigate) , then her arms and her face.  When she was cleaning Lynn’s hands, her friend slowly came back to reality. She blinked, confused. What was Tess doing in her cell? What happened? Tess didn’t notice and continued to scrub off the worst of the dirt.

“How’s that?” she asked her in a soothing tone. 

“I almost forgot that warm water existed,” Lynn answered,  smiling slightly .  Tess almost jumped into the air. She was easily spooked and Lynn had just managed to scare her senseless. As soon as she calmed herself down, she returned the smile.

Tess quickly cleaned herself too and was ready when the men entered the corridor. 

They tied their wrists and ankles up and brought them upstairs. Tess and Lynn remembered what had happened the last time and where they were being led to.  Since neither of them had nice memories from their trials (apart from Lynn’s brief encounter with the Princess), they were staggering, slowly putting one foot in front of the other, trying to delay the moment as much as possible. 

This time, however, there was a lot of noise coming from the courtyard. People were building tables and seemed to prepare for some kind of celebration?  The unusual quartet crossed the courtyard and Tess stopped near the entrance to the castle. Crowley nudged her to continue forward. 

“I can’t,” Tess squeaked, her tone high as if she were afraid. “My leg hurts, I have to take a break.” She leaned on a wall, lifting her injured foot in the air so she could relieve herself from the pain. Lynn took the chance to relax too. Farrel and Crowley exchanged looks. They could easily push the girls to go further, but the Rangers needed them in the best shape.

“What’s going on here?” Tess asked. Lynn didn’t say a lot, but looked around instead. She was glad to be taken out of that horrible place downstairs and watched amused how everyone was helping each other and how the children were playing. The dark thoughts that had been in her head had to make place for happy ones and she smiled.

“It’s for the harvest, isn’t it?” she asked Farrel. 

At first he frowned, but then nodded in agreement. “Yes, the last preparations will be done today and then we will celebrate the end of the season with a feast.”

The people around them pointed at them or were whispering how lucky they were to be sentenced now, because the King would be less hard on them during celebrations.

They were standing around for a few minutes when Crowley decided that Tess’ foot had got enough rest (it was her own fault she got hurt in the first place), and nudged her hard to get her moving. The girl pouted but obeyed. Soon, they entered the same door  as when they were first sentenced and were  told to stop  in the middle; the throne in front of them and the Rangers behind them. 

The same guard  as before announced the entrance of King Duncan and they waited for him to sit down. 

“It won’t be as long as the last times,” Duncan started.

Tess and Lynn looked at each other briefly and then to the stairs below the throne  so that they wouldn’t stare directly at the royal . 

“Lynn Jonker, I shall start with you.”  Lynn paled (it was visible even though she was already deathly pale).  Would she be sentenced again? If yes, for how long? 

“You are pleaded free from the murders, however, you’re still accused of ignoring the orders of a King’s Ranger, running away from him multiple times and lying to him, as well as to the Crown.” She bit her lip, but remained silent. 

He laid the paper aside and took that one of Tess.

“A nice list,  there are even some additions to it, Tess Nová,” he said,  looking briefly at the girl. Tess gulped .

“Ignoring the orders of a King’s Ranger, running away from him, attacking two Rangers, several attempts to escape.” 

Tess leaned towards Lynn to whisper something in her ear. “Yours is as long as half of my list!” Lynn smirked. 

“I don’t know if it’s something to be proud of, especially since you  _ failed _ on some points.” Tess smiled. 

“ What do you mean by ‘failing’?  Attacking two Rangers and surviving is a success!” 

Farrel and Crowley looked at each other and, after a small nod from King Duncan, they slapped both the girls on the back of their heads. 

“You’re standing in front of the  _ King _ , stop acting like children!” they snapped in their ears. 

Lynn smiled devilishly at her friend, getting a very sarcastic glance in return. 

Both Rangers behind them shook their heads in disbelief. They got a warning and still decided to act like five year-olds! Crowley sighed and poked Tess in between her ribs (she bit a yelp, it was right in the bruise that just started to heal). Lynn saw how her friend got treated and lost all desire to provoke her. The girls silently looked at the King.

“I’m in a good mood today because of the good harvest season,” he remarked, sitting straight on his throne. 

They looked at him, hoping to hear those five words (or at least a positive message along the lines “You are free to go”) that would end this nightmare.

“You are both sentenced to  imprisonment for 20 years. That’s my final decision,”  he said, standing up and exiting the room with a dramatic flare. The girls looked at each other before their arms were yanked by the Rangers and they went on the exhausting journey back to their cells. 

“Those aren’t the words I hoped to hear, but at least it’s less worse than before,” Tess said when they were crossing the courtyard again. 

“Ha! 20 years compared to an infinite sleep is waaay better than I had hoped,” Lynn replied.

Neither of them knew that it was just part of a plan  they weren’t to know about just yet . 

They would be taken to Caraway Fief to help Farrel with catching and identifying the murderer, but the Rangers had decided to leave to not mention that, only that they would go back north.This way, they would fully cooperate and wouldn’t think of some sort of escaping plan. 

Boredom had come once again and they didn’t know what to do with all the time. Would they be imprisoned here or brought to another cell? Would they be together or separated again? Lynn liked to think a lot when she didn’t have anything to do. 

Suddenly, she sat up straight. “Tess, do you smell that?” She breathed deeply in and fell back on the straw. 

“Everything alright with you?” Tess had seen her and was now not sure if madness had taken over Lynn again or if there really was  a delicious food and its smell carried all the way down there.

The Czech girl did the same and far, far away she could smell something. 

“How barbaric of them! We get nothing else than bread and cheese, and they are preparing such a feast!” 

The smell become stronger with the minute and  the girls’ stomachs growled with hunger. They needed the food .  The very thought of food other than bread was pleasing to their minds.

They could smell pork, vegetables, chicken, beef and even more.

“I think we’ll have to do it with the smell Tess, no one will give us anything,” Lynn said with a sad voice.  They both knew there was no way to get a dish that good unless Crowley seriously pulled some strings - which they doubted. 

It wouldn’t be long before their dinner would be served.

Lynn walked around while Tess was laying on the ground.  They didn’t talk for a while, just trying to take in the delicious smell of  _ real  _ food. 

Soon, the time for their dinner came and  they could hear someone coming, but Lynn didn’t recognize the footsteps.

“I think it’s someone we don’t know. I’ve never heard him or her before,”  she whispered hurriedly, not wanting the stranger to hear what she just said. 

Tess shrugged. If Lynn said so, she would be right.

“Good evening ladies, dinner’s here,” an unfamiliar voice greeted them.

As soon as they smelled it, they both ran to the door as quickly as they could go. There was everything they wanted on a plate! Meat, vegetables, bread (not the normal one) and even some fish!

“Wait, is this some kind of trick?” Lynn asked the man  with narrowed eyes . 

Only now she saw who he was, or rather what. He wore the same uniform as Crowley and Farrel. They both stepped back, giving the Ranger no chance to grab them. 

“What kind of tricks do you mean, girl?” 

He had heard about their  (mis) adventures with his friends and  also that the girls weren’t that fond of Rangers, but he didn’t have any bad intentions.  Of course, there was no way these barely adult women could have known that, so he tried to act as nice as possible. 

Since Crowley already discussed the plan with him, he knew he’d be spending a lot of time with the girls.

“Which one of you is Lynn?” he asked and saw that one of them raised her hand,  albeit hesitantly .    
He nodded and opened her cell. “Step out and wait here.” 

Lynn was confused but did as she was told. Tess poked her nose through the bars, just as confused as Lynn. Farrel and Crowley would never let either one of them out (without their hands tied!) and trust them not to do anything stupid if they weren’t both there (the only exception to this being Crowley who apparently enjoyed being attacked by girls a few years younger than he was). 

This Ranger, on the other hand, seemed to trust them and thought they wouldn’t try to escape. Lynn waited and entered Tess’ cell when it was unlocked by the Ranger.

“This is for you. They asked me to bring you some dinner and since everyone is celebrating, I thought nobody should be excluded.” 

He gave them the plate,  stepped out of the cell, locked its door and turned around.

“Wait! What’s your name?” Tess  called after him . 

“Berrigan is the name.”

After that, he walked back to the stairs, but remembered one last thing. 

“Don’t worry about being separated tonight. You have the King’s permission to sleep in the same cell.”

The girls were bewildered. “A reduced sentence, a plate full of food and we’re allowed to sleep in one cell?” They looked at each other, not knowing if it was a joke or not. 

“Well, at least we get the vitamins and nutrition we needed,” Tess replied with her mouth full. And I will be able to sleep, Lynn thought, while enjoying her dinner.


	7. Adventure take #2. Hello pain, my old friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally some very "safe" (^^) adventure! Lynn makes acquaintance with medieval healing and Tess is introduced to Berrigan, master in knife-throwing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Lynn is an unfortunate soul and throws up so if you are grossed out from this kind of stuff it's after they leave the camp but only lasts for a few rows. She also gets stitches at the end of the chapter.

The girls woke up in a pile. At first, neither one of them could remember how exactly they got there. Yesterday’s evening was one big blur. They felt happier than they had in a long time. 

When they woke up, Lynn was grasping Tess’ arm tightly. Her friend wasn’t even surprised as she knew about Lynn’s nightmares. She had woken up in the middle of the night when Lynn was thrashing about and kicking around herself. Tess understood it must’ve been another dream. She pulled Lynn into a hug and stroked her hair until she calmed down and fell back into an uneasy sleep. 

“How did we get here?” Lynn asked, sitting up and massaging her head. Wasn’t it yesterday when Crowley specifically told her they weren’t permitted to be in one cell? 

Tess held her chin in a thinking manner. 

“Well, this new Ranger was here and he let you in here,” she replied. What was the Ranger’s name? She closed her eyes, trying to remember but no name came to her mind. Tess wasn’t even surprised. She was awful with names. 

Lynn untangled herself from Tess’ arm and the two girls huddled together, waiting for their breakfast. They didn’t want to get separated again but felt like it was inevitable. 

Their food was delivered twenty minutes later. Tess stood up, shuffling to the door to see who was coming. Lynn kept close to her, not wanting to get separated. The girls stood next to the door, trying to see who was approaching with their food… and possibly to throw them into their own cells again. 

There were two shadows in the candlelight and they narrowed their eyes to see their visitors. Two Rangers, definitely. Lynn took a step back. 

The new guy raised the hand in which he held the torch, letting light flood the dark cell. Farrel was with him. For once, there was no Crowley. He probably needed a break after all those days when he was the only one keeping an eye on them. 

When they stood in front of their cell, not making any move to unlock the door, Tess got the hint and moved back to Lynn, both standing at the very end of the limited space they had. 

Lynn grabbed Tess’ hand again, worried she’d be forced back to the lonely neighbouring cell. Tess tilted her head and studied the newcomer. Last night she almost didn’t see him, not in the poor light that ruled the whole room. Even now, it was hard to recognize his features. He had dark hair and a lean face. She couldn’t make out the colour of his eyes but that didn’t matter, because, in the next ten seconds, he looked at her and said: “Done staring?” 

Tess shook her head which led the Ranger to laugh. Really, it was just a quiet snickering but the man was laughing and she was confused. Did she do something funny to make him laugh? Was there a straw sticking out of her hair? Did he, by any chance, see her bandaged foot and wondered how she got that? Oh no, wait, she was an idiot. She literally shook her head when he asked if she was done staring. Tess felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment. Lynn put a hand on her shoulder in a calming manner. She didn’t need to since Tess smiled. It was the first real smile she had seen from her friend in days. 

Tess raised her head, looking the new Ranger right in the eye. 

“No, sir, I just couldn’t remember your name,” she said, the embarrassed blush in her cheeks fading away. The Ranger grinned. 

“Name’s Berrigan,” he said in a light tone. He nodded slightly at Farrel who came closer to them and put down the plate with food. If they weren’t so scared of impending separation, the girls would’ve taken note of how there was only one plate full of real food (not bread and cheese like always). But, since they were afraid and wary of the Rangers, they kept their eyes solely on them as Farrel came closer. However, the Ranger retreated from their personal space as soon as he put their breakfast down and briskly left the cell. 

Lynn and Tess shared a look of both confusion and relief. They were properly scared of Farrel since he was the one who hunted them down through the forest, put a knife on Lynn’s throat, and led them all the way here, but they knew from experience that they shouldn’t underestimate Berrigan. Or any Ranger in general. They knew very well that if Berrigan wanted, he could use brute force to separate them and keep the other one (read: Tess) from attacking him. 

“Don’t worry, girls. You are permitted to stay here for today,” Berrigan said, putting his free hand in the pockets of his pants. He seemed so relaxed around them even though they were, after all, dangerous criminals. Lynn got the impression that he was self-confident, believing in his abilities. She didn’t doubt that he could use all his knowledge to stop them if they did try something. 

The Rangers then left and it was time for the girls to find out just what feast had been prepared for them. 

“This must be a dream,” Lynn commented when she stuffed her face with smoked meat. Tess nodded. Indeed, this seemed too good to be true. It was almost like a… She narrowed her eyes, suddenly thinking of this new possibility. It was almost like a trap. She shared her thoughts with Lynn. 

“It is weird we got this delicious stuff,” she said, thinking about what Tess said. 

Indeed, it was. A week after getting only bread and cheese as the main dish of the day, to suddenly get this feast? Tess couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. Her mother would probably tell her that she was just being paranoid. She shook her head and continued eating. 

The healer came in the afternoon to get a look at Tess’ foot again. This time, only Berrigan came and it added to her paranoid thoughts. It was like they wanted them to get used to seeing him. Tess didn’t mind that, as long as the Ranger stayed in a reasonable distance from both her and Lynn. 

Her foot was healing nicely. The healer took the bandage off and Tess immediately twisted her leg to look at her sole. There would be a scar. The wound had closed, a pink spot marking the place of the injury. She was reminded not to put much strain on it (Tess almost smirked. How could she, in this small space?) and the woman packed her things. 

All the time, Lynn stayed obediently in the corner, watching as her friend got treated. She was ordered to sit there by Berrigan, who stayed standing in the door. Lynn obeyed, not wanting to make the Ranger mad and to make the healer think she’d try something stupid. 

When the woman left, she immediately shuffled near Tess again. The girls stayed like that for hours, leaning against the other for support and warmth. 

It was the next morning when they got breakfast that they felt there was something big going on. First, they got breakfast earlier than usual. By now they both had an internal clock, knew at what time they would get food every day. After all, that was one of the few things they could look forward to in prison. Nevertheless, the girls ate all the food they were given. 

Half an hour later, all three Rangers currently present in the castle came down there. 

“Tak to jsme v pytli,” Tess hissed under her breath. Lynn narrowed her eyes at her. 

She didn’t know Czech, only understood a few words, but if she went by Tess’ tone, she was pretty sure her friend just said something along the lines of “We’re screwed.” 

Lynn stood in the corner behind Tess. With all three Rangers down here, the situation looked truly terrifying to the girls. They had no idea what would happen. 

Tess watched all men like a hawk as she positioned herself in front of Lynn, standing in a defensive stance. 

“I see what you meant, Crowley,” Berrigan said, turning to the redhead. He earned a growl from Tess. The girl apparently wasn’t happy about them talking behind her back. 

Farrel’s hand came to rest on the handle of one of his knives. That made Tess move. She was now facing him, standing between the Ranger and her friend. Farrel might have saved Lynn from being executed but he’d done nothing to make Tess trust him. 

“Come now, Tess, don’t be unreasonable,” Crowley tried to coax her. “Otherwise we’d have to add that to your and Lynn’s list of crimes and you don’t want that.” 

Tess let out a low growl but took a step back when Farrel took the knife out of its scabbard with a sadistic smile. 

“What do you girls say about having a chance to breathe fresh air for a while?” Berrigan asked, choosing a different approach than Farrel and Crowley. Tess relaxed slightly. Maybe this really wasn’t any trap, any ploy to separate the two of them again. Lynn shoved her gently out of the way. She was dying to get out of this cell. She was slowly becoming claustrophobic in here, the anxiety building up, even though she had spent the past day with her friend. 

Lynn went to Crowley, trying to stay as far away from Farrel (and his knife!) as possible. She reached out her hands and waited for the Ranger to tie them. Tess sighed and gave in. She made no move to walk over to the Rangers, but that didn’t pose any problem for Berrigan. When she was asked to hold out her hands, she first risked a brief glance at Farrel who was still holding the knife. He made the slightest head motion towards Lynn. It was his favourite convincing technique, after all. Tess let out another sigh as she let Berrigan tie her wrists together. 

The Rangers led them out of the cell. It was a weird procession. The Ranger Commandant went first, Lynn between him and Berrigan, then Tess and Farrel was the last. He was making sure there wouldn’t be any tries to escape. 

They were led upstairs. They hadn’t climbed so many stairs in this castle before and their legs hurt. They came into a room full of papers, more papers, and other stacks of papers. A massive table was barely visible under the flood of paperwork. There were three wooden chairs in total; two stood in front of the table, the last one behind it. 

“Sit down,” Crowley ordered, going around the table. The girls understood that this must’ve been his office. They complied and sat on the two chairs, Farrel and Berrigan standing behind them. 

Crowley set his hands against the table and leaned on it. 

“I thought we were going outside,” Tess started, only to be interrupted by Lynn’s favourite catchphrase. 

“Je bent een leerling, die moeten niet denken.” Tess shook her head. I know, I know, she thought. She should’ve expected that. 

“You _are_ going outside,” Crowley clarified, looking at them. Lynn frowned, confused. She began to stand up, only to be grasped by the shoulders and forced back into the seat. 

“Then why are we here?” she asked. They were still very much inside. True, there was daylight and fresh air, but it didn’t compare to _outside_. Crowley stood up straight again and started pacing the room. 

“That is a very good question, Lynn,” he said. The girls remained silent; he still had a lot to say. 

“You are here because you two will go help Farrel and Berrigan catch and identify the murderer.” Lynn’s eyes widened in surprise. Tess visibly paled. 

While Lynn stared numbly at the window, Tess started to frantically look around, tapping her foot anxiously. 

“Are you crazy?” she asked, anger once more making its way to her voice tone. “Me and Lynn, help catch some guy- murderer going around killing everything and everyone? Can’t we just, I don’t know, stay here in our nice cozy cell for the next twenty years?” 

Lynn rocked her head back and forth, still staring at the opposite wall, indicating that she agreed with Tess. Her friend shot up from her chair in her rage. It only lasted for a few seconds as both Berrigan and Farrel forced her down, the former holding her firmly after she had sat back into her chair. Tess hissed in pain, her almost healed bruise hitting the corner of the chair. 

Crowley nodded at his two Rangers and came closer. Tess was getting scared now but she couldn’t back up in the chair, being held by Berrigan. 

“And what if I told you,” the Ranger Commandant started in a low voice, “that if you do this, you’ll be free of all charges?”

Tess swallowed. This indeed sounded tempting. But, there were many dangers to consider, along with Lynn’s currently fragile mental health. Crowley smirked. He saw that she was thinking about it. It wasn’t like they would have any choice anyway. Everything had already been agreed on. He knew they were just tormenting the girls now, but it was truly entertaining to watch. 

“That’s manipulation!” Tess yelled as soon as the Ranger retreated from her personal space. She turned to her jailmate. 

“Lynn, back me up here! Say something!” As if she woke up from a dream, Lynn moved her head to stare at her. The other three people present in the room were looking at her, waiting for any reaction other than fear. 

The Rangers exchanged a look. They had known Lynn’s mental health had been deteriorating, but they had no idea it was this bad. 

This girl needed some freedom and nice memories, neither of which she had at the moment. 

“Tessie, it sounds good. We go with them and we’ll be free,” she said in a small voice, looking at her friend with puppy eyes. 

Tess sighed. She needed to put Lynn’s health above hers. Slowly, she nodded at Crowley. 

“Alright, we’ll do it.” 

She felt Berrigan pat her head. 

“There, good girl,” he said and if Tess was an anime character, a red cross would appear above her head. She moved, trying to bite the Ranger. Berrigan avoided her attack easily.

Lynn rolled her eyes. When would Tess finally get it? Even having the very thought of attacking a Ranger was madness, but, she realized, Tess might have acted completely spontaneous, not thinking about her own actions. 

She looked at Crowley. 

“When do we leave?” she asked, not liking the smile that spread on the Ranger’s face. 

“Right now.” 

Lynn was yanked out of her chair by Farrel. 

“Wait wait wait, don’t we get at least a day to prepare?” she demanded, fright growing inside her. Tess looked from her to Crowley, and realization dawned on her. They did give them time to prepare. It was…

“That was yesterday,” Crowley confirmed her worst fears. 

Come on! They weren’t ready for this kind of situation! 

Lynn struggled against Farrel’s grip hopelessly. When the Ranger didn’t let go of her, much to her chagrin, she sighed. 

“Can I have a request?” 

It was like time had stopped in the room for a few seconds, everyone staring at each other, but then the switch was turned back on. 

“What is it?” Crowley asked, feeling that he should be the one to answer her question. Lynn took a step forward. 

“Can I get pants for the journey?” Again, the atmosphere became heavy. 

A girl, wearing pants? On one hand, when Farrel caught them, they were both wearing pants, on the other; it was unusual to see a woman wearing trousers. However, since they were going on a dangerous journey, it would be practical for the girls to get something comfortable to travel in. 

Crowley told them all to wait there. He disappeared for a good ten minutes before he came back, holding two pairs of pants, beige shirts thrown over his shoulder. Each of the girls got her own pair of clothing. Tess frowned. She didn’t request trousers. Of course, now that she got them, she wasn’t going to complain, but she didn’t mind wearing the skirt. 

“They might be too big. You can sew, right?” Shakily, the girls nodded. Lynn looked down at her piece of clothing. 

They were taken into a separate room to change. The Rangers probably didn’t want them to accidentally stumble over some super-secret papers, not that the girls would make out the terrible handwriting on them. 

When they emerged, the Rangers re-tied their wrists and all five had set off for the long journey to the stables. Castle servants pointed at them when they passed them, laughing silently. It was humiliating as if they wanted to say: “Look at those losers! Pathetic, getting themselves caught by the Rangers!” 

Lynn protested when Farrel tied the end of the rope to a pole. For once, they were lucky that Tess loved horses; she was busy watching the animals and almost didn’t notice that she was now stuck in one place. Crowley stayed with them, keeping a watchful eye on both the girls while Berrigan and Farrel got their horses ready. The girls already knew Nicker. The horse seemed to recognize them and snorted. _You again?_ he nudged his rider lightly. 

Maybe her vision was getting poor but Lynn could’ve sworn she had just seen Farrel nod. Anyway, it sounded like the horse was mocking them and she didn’t like it. 

Berrigan’s horse was a bit smaller. It was a dark bay with a snip on its nose. When they stopped in front of the girls and Crowley, intelligent dark eyes studied the humans. 

Just like during their journey here, they each got tied to a saddle. This time, the knot wasn’t as tight and didn’t restrict their blood flow in any way. 

The Rangers mounted their horses and with one last look at Crowley and the safety of their cells in the dungeons, they set off. Even though they woke up at dawn, it was almost noon when they finally left the castle. 

The Rangers kept their horses going in a steady walk. They didn't hurry, actually, they couldn't go faster if they didn't want the girls to jog and slow them down. 

They crossed the drawbridge and turned right. The girls already knew this path. A week ago, they were stumbling there behind Farrel's horse, only in the opposite direction. Now, they were also fresh, nothing hurt right now and they were given more freedom than during the journey to Castle Araluen. They had been drastically weakened by the lack of vitamins and movement in their cells though.

“Can we stop for a moment, please?” Tess asked after twenty minutes of walking. Being an asthmatic, she had trouble breathing and needed to replenish her oxygen supply. Her recently healed foot was starting to bother her since she put too much pressure on it with each step. 

“Of course not,” Berrigan said happily. He was given a very nasty glare from Tess. The girl took another deep breath, clenched her teeth so she’d brace herself for the upcoming pain, and continued. 

Lynn was trailing behind Farrel’s chestnut horse, enjoying the fresh air and the landscape. Araluen was a beautiful country. They had arrived at a top of a hill and the view was breathtaking. Castle Araluen was still visible, the surrounding village seemed like a colony of ants in comparison to the majestic building. Fields and forests were everywhere and it was truly a wonderful sight. 

Lynn didn’t get much time to admire the stunning beauty of Araluen since the rope that tied her to Nicker’s saddle had stretched, forcing her to pick up her pace and join the Rangers again. Her neck was starting to irritate her. The blood flow in her veins had sped up when they started moving more, causing the wound to start bleeding again and hurt like hell. She stubbornly kept her mouth shut, still not wanting anyone to know about it. After an hour of walking, the pain was all she felt. 

Fortunately, they stopped for lunch. It was almost noon when they had left the castle and neither of them had something to eat since breakfast. Tess lifted her foot off the ground and tried to lean on Berrigan’s horse. The mare didn’t like this strange unfamiliar human to touch her in any way though, so she promptly stepped out of the way and Tess fell in the grass with a loud curse. 

“Ow,” she said, sitting up and massaging her shoulder. Lynn couldn’t help herself. Despite all the pain that was clouding her mind, she started laughing. It was so funny, seeing the horse have its own mind. 

Tess glared daggers at Lynn. “What are you laughing about?” she asked, but she was smiling, too. 

The Rangers dismounted their horses. They left their reins lay on the ground, trusting them to stay where they were. The saddles were taken off the horses’ backs to disburden them. They were sure to stay there for at least an hour. 

The girls expected to be tied to a tree, but that wasn’t the case this time. The Rangers let them wander around with their wrists and ankles tied together but not too tightly so they could still move. Severely weakened, out of breath after a few steps, the girls didn’t even think about making an escape. They watched the Rangers take the horses’ harnesses and put them on the ground. 

“You,” Farrel pointed at Tess. She instinctively took a step back. “You and Berrigan will go gather firewood.” The brunette nodded. She could do that, yeah. 

The Caraway Ranger then looked at Lynn. 

“You can cook, right? There are some ingredients in my saddlebag. Fetch them,” he ordered and Lynn made her way to the horses. Farrel kept his gaze on her, watching her every move. 

“It’s in the left saddlebag!” he called after her. Lynn kept to his instructions and found a packet. She took it and came back to where Farrel was creating a rock circle - the fire would be at that place. Watching the Ranger, she silently stood next to him, seeing how he arranged the stones. 

“Take a bucket and go fetch some water,” he barked another order when he saw that Lynn was slacking off. The girl bit her lip, the pain from her wound hurting too much, but complied and went to fulfill the Ranger’s request. 

While Lynn played Fetch! with Farrel, Tess and Berrigan were going through the woods, leaning down for branches that looked suitable for a fire. It was complicated to crouch down, try to reach a log with her hands tied, and at the same time pay attention to the branches she already held in her arms. 

Tess had her arms full so she made her way back to the camp. First, she looked in both directions to see if Berrigan was around, but she couldn’t see the Ranger anywhere. The girl shrugged. He’d probably wait for her where Lynn and Farrel were. 

Carefully, she stepped over a fallen branch, believing she was going in the camp’s direction. 

Mere seconds later, a knife sank to a tree behind her. Tess froze on the spot. She could feel the gust of wind as the knife went a few inches from her face. Slowly, she turned her face in the direction from where the weapon had come, expecting to see a demon standing between the trees. 

It was just Berrigan, but he truly looked like a demon in the dim light. It was reflected from a shiny blade he held in his hand. 

Tess screamed. She dropped the branches and scrambled to run away from the Ranger. If she had been able to think logically, every part of her brain would tell her that this was such a bad idea, but fear overtook her. 

Even with her legs tied up, she was pretty fast. Until the moment a second knife flew next to her and pinned her to a tree by her shirt. Tess collapsed against the tree she was pinned to. She slid down to the ground, eyeing the knife that was the source of her problems. Her shirt was ruined on the shoulder, ripped by the sharp blade. 

Fearfully, she glanced at Berrigan. The Ranger wasn’t smiling anymore, a dark shadow covering his face. He obviously wasn’t happy with her. She shrank as much as she could. This wasn’t a good time to resist. 

Berrigan pulled the knife out of the tree and gripped the girl by her arm. She was painfully yanked up to her feet. The Ranger didn’t let go of her and she was stumbling to keep his face pace. 

He let her go once they were at the place where she dropped her pile of firewood. 

“Pick it up,” he ordered strictly. Tess silently complied. Now she felt her legs shiver, possibly caused by the subsiding shock. 

Berrigan roughly pushed her in front of him back to the camp. 

Lynn immediately made her way to Tess. Her scream must’ve been heard all the way to Castle Araluen, and Lynn was pretty worried. She momentarily forgot her irritated wound and 

hugged her friend, making her drop the branches again. 

“What happened, Tess?” she asked, but it wasn’t Tess who answered. It was Berrigan. 

“Tried to escape, this one,” he said, pulling the girl out of the embrace and pushing her to Farrel. Tess gulped. She was in so much trouble.

“It was an honest mistake!” she cried. “I thought I was going here!” Then, she spat angrily: “I wouldn’t try to escape without Lynn anyway.” 

She didn’t know if the Rangers believed her. She got tied to a tree, along with Lynn. The Rangers needed to prepare the food and they had no time to keep an eye on two problematic girls. Lynn discovered that she could easily scratch her neck if she moved her head up and down against the bark. Tess narrowed her eyes at her but didn’t question it. Her friend probably just needed to scratch her back. The linen shirt was comfortable but sometimes it made her skin itch a lot. 

“What happened?” Lynn once again asked, leaning closer to Tess and whispering so the Rangers didn’t hear. Both horses raised their heads, ears faced forwards. They did hear the whispered question. 

“I got the wood and was going back here,” Tess answered, her tone low, eyeing both men who sat near the fire. “I really thought, don’t interrupt me, Lynn,” she added quickly when she saw her friend take a deep breath, probably to tell her that she wasn’t ready to think yet, “I was going in the right direction. But I strayed farther from the camp. Berrigan decided to introduce me to his knives.” She shivered as she said it, the memory of sharp blades still fresh in her memory. 

Lynn raised an eyebrow. “Oh boy,” she said, her gaze shifting to the ripped shirt. “Are you okay?” 

Tess nodded. “Physically? Yeah. Mentally? Shaken to the core.” Lynn relaxed and rested her head on the tree’s trunk. 

The Rangers made soup for lunch. The men let the girls wait while they ate first, then their prisoners had the chance to fill their bellies. 

But, while Tess got a full bowl, Lynn’s bowl was half-empty. She raised her eyebrow at Farrel. 

“Come on! I’m hungry, too!” she complained. Berrigan, like the nice soul he was, put a hand on the other Ranger’s shoulder. 

“Well, Farrel, she will need her strength if we’re to get to Caraway before sundown,” he tried to convince his colleague. The Ranger grumbled. Lynn didn’t look so good; her face was pale and he was sure she would throw up if he gave her a full bowl, but he took the bowl from her with a sigh. Seconds later, Lynn got a full bowl of soup. 

When she looked at the hot liquid, she felt a wave of nausea come over her. She dismissed it; must’ve come from the pain. She drank it all and laid against the tree with her eyes closed. It was delicious and she felt sleepy. The light breeze made her want to go to sleep, close her eyes, and just relax...

Lynn woke up to a hard shove to her shoulder. She grumbled; that was an ugly way to wake up. She curled up onto herself and opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry for a few moments and she blinked out the veil that had formed over her eyes. Her wound hurt. Tess was already being led away by Farrel and Lynn risked to scratch it while there was no one looking. 

As soon as Tess got tied to Nicker's saddle, it was Lynn's turn to get up and walk over to Berrigan's mare whom the Ranger lovely called Whistle. She was quietly waiting until Farrel tied the rope to the pommel, then she put her head down and started grazing. 

Berrigan was getting rid of all traces they had ever been there. He kicked the stones from the fireplace around, threw unused branches into the distance, only the charred ground from the fire remained. The Ranger poured dirt onto it, letting the fire die. 

Tess was petting Farrel's horse on its shoulder, and the chestnut enjoyed it, shaking his head up and down. 

_I like this one, she gives good pats._ That was the message Farrel got. The Ranger murmured something incomprehensible, walking over to the horse. 

When all signs of their short break were gone, both Rangers mounted their steeds, nudging them into a walk. The girls trailed behind them, sleepy after lunch. At least Lynn got a chance to get some rest, and Tess' foot didn't hurt anymore. She knew it would start again soon, but for now, she was happy. 

Lynn didn't feel good. Her nausea should've gone away after she took a nap but as soon as they set off, it came back and hit her full on. She felt as if she were crushed by a train, the pounding in her head becoming too much. She slowed down, clasping her head. 

"Everything good?" Berrigan turned in the saddle, looking back at her. Lynn forced herself to smile and reply with an enthusiastic "Yes!"

Tess looked over Whistle's backside. She wasn't convinced, that thing Lynn called a smile wasn't convincing at all. It was a wonder the Rangers didn't comment on it. They probably knew something was off, though. 

They only walked for a few hundred meters and Lynn couldn't take it anymore. The nausea was too much to handle. Her face had become green as she promptly bent forward and threw up. 

"Lynn!" Tess shouted from her place next to Nicker. She desperately wanted to go to her, tell her it was going to be alright, hold her hair so it didn't get in the way, but she could do neither. She was stuck tied to Farrel's horse, left to feel as useless as a boat lost in the middle of the ocean. 

It was Berrigan who dismounted and embraced Lynn, reaching for her hair. The Ranger narrowed his eyes. He was sure he saw something on the girl's neck but decided to pay attention to that later. Right now, Lynn, even if she was a criminal, needed someone to be there for her. Berrigan lightly patted her on her back, humming softly. They had no choice but to wait for the girl to stop vomiting. 

Lynn felt like shit. She couldn't breathe, felt the acidic taste of vomit in her mouth, and tears made their way into her eyes. She hated throwing up. She always felt like a child who needed her parents to gently blow on the wound and tell her everything was going to be okay. 

When Lynn finally stopped vomiting, she felt more tired than she had in months. Her legs were weak, barely supporting her weight, but before she fell on her knees, Berrigan supported her and kept her standing. 

“Come on,” he said, his tone gentle and caring. He probably wasn’t such a tyrant after all. Lynn walked to his horse, supported by the Ranger. Tess stretched her rope as far as it could go. She needed to see if her friend was indeed alright. Well, no, of course, she wasn’t alright, but if she was in need of mental support and hugs, then she’d do her best to supply it. 

“Are we good to go?” Farrel asked impatiently. He didn’t understand why a criminal got such light treatment. He had half mind to scream: “They’re criminals, Berrigan, wake up!”, but watched from the back of his horse as the other Ranger shrugged. 

“I don’t think it’d be wise to travel with her in this condition,” Berrigan said, still holding Lynn. She turned her head and spit out a mixture of saliva and vomit. The Ranger once again patted her on the back and led her to Whistle. 

“We need to continue,” Farrel pressed. It was early afternoon but if they travelled at a snail’s pace, they’d arrive in Caraway tomorrow. He was a Ranger, he knew how to be patient, but he didn’t want to wait that long. They had a job to do and getting stuck on the road wasn’t in their plans. 

Berrigan looked at the other man and pointed at Lynn. 

“Does it looks like she can go any further?” he asked. A sensible question, really. Tess immediately shook her head. Lynn looked terrible, deathly pale, and crouched where she stood supported by Berrigan. Farrel had to admit she couldn’t even walk properly and forcing her to move could hinder their travels a lot more than if they just set the camp there. 

“Alright,” he recognized his defeat. “We’ll look for a place to set up a camp. We’re too out in the open here, though,” he added. Indeed, they were on a road in the middle of wheat fields, clearly visible from a distance. They needed to find a secluded area where they would be safe. 

Berrigan nodded. He wasn’t about to argue with this. He put one foot in his stirrup and mounted Whistle. Lynn was left standing next to the horse until two strong arms grabbed her under the armpits and lifted her on the mare. 

Berrigan let Lynn sit in front of him. The weakened girl was already closing her eyes, resting her head on her chest. She was kept sitting straight by Berrigan who took the reins and nudged Whistle forward. 

They started moving again, this time at a slower pace because Lynn was dangerously swaying to one side and she almost fell out of the saddle twice. She was nodding off, tired after the day’s events. 

“So, Tess,” Berrigan started in a friendly tone. “Tell me about yourself. Where are you girls from?” 

Tess stumbled but collected herself quickly. 

“Well…” she stopped, thinking. The Ranger probably knew all about where they came from and what their stories were. Crowley or Farrel must’ve told him already. He probably wanted to see if it was just as crazy as they described. She decided to play it safe. 

“I don’t speak for Lynn, but I’m from a small landlocked country. It’s beautiful,” she said, not giving him any relevant information. 

Farrel grumbled from his saddle something along the lines of “Let them be, Berrigan. They’re just criminals.” The Ranger wasn’t discouraged by this, he just laughed. Farrel looked away. If he wanted to question the girls, fine. But he had heard their story enough times already and didn’t want to hear it again. 

“Do you have your own language there?” Berrigan asked, ignoring Farrel. 

Tess nodded. “Yup, we have our own language. Sometimes it’s not easy for me to remember English words.” 

Now, both Rangers looked at her like she was crazy. 

“English? Is that a language?” Farrel demanded, suddenly interested in this conversation. Tess was confused. She tilted her head and said: “We’re speaking it right now.” 

“You mean the Common Language?” Berrigan questioned and the girl hesitantly nodded. That did indeed sound like English. Everyone on the world knew how to speak it and common language had, well, the word “common” in it, so it must’ve been similar. Tess suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over her, because they could have easily ended up in a country where people didn’t know a word in English. 

They left the fields and the Rangers started looking for a good place to set up the camp. 

“So, Tess, any music worth noting in your country?” Berrigan suggested. Oh boy, he was in for a surprise. 

“Well,” she started, trying to think of her favourite music. “There are many singers, but I don’t like rap-” she didn’t notice the look of confusion on Berrigan’s face, “-but I love camping music.” This caught Berrigan’s attention. 

“Can you play the gitarra?” he asked immediately and looked utterly devastated when Tess clarified that no, she couldn’t play. When she saw how truly sad he looked, she tried to tell him that she could sing, but only off-key. That seemed to brighten Berrigan’s mood a bit and Tess realized that she had just made a fatal mistake. She was already dreading the moment when she would have to sing something with the Ranger. 

They found a nice secluded circle of trees growing two hundred feet to the left and urged the horses to get off the road. Honestly, Tess was glad they stopped. Her foot was bothering her by now and she was having trouble just walking. The first thing the Rangers did was to tie her to a tree. Then came Lynn who had fallen unconscious and Tess huddled her close, not wanting to be separated again. 

While the Rangers unsaddled the horses, Tess had fallen asleep too, leaning against a tree with Lynn’s head on her shoulder. 

Lynn had been sleeping for a while now, but not with ease. Nightmares were still haunting her every night and her lack of sleep become more and more evident. She had been awake too often at night, fighting the sleep and waking up with screaming or sweat drops on her face. 

They had made their camp and were now resting a bit. The Rangers had set up their tents, but the girls had to sleep under the stars.

Farrel and Berrigan talked in a low voice as not to wake up the girls who were sleeping. 

They slept close to the tents of the Rangers, in case they had some wild plan to escape.

Their feet weren’t tied, but their hands were. However, Berrigan tied them this time and he was much nicer than Farrel. Instead of tying both wrists together, he tied them separately, giving the prisoners some freedom of moving their hands. 

Tess was laying on her left side, facing the Rangers, Lynn laid on her right side. 

At one point, she started to mumble and roll a bit with her head. Tess, well aware of what would come next, opened her eyes a bit, looking at the Rangers. 

When Lynn stopped, she closed them again. 

Lynn was not feeling well. Her nightmare was again about getting beheaded, but this time about the real one. She had started to think about what would have happened if Farrel hadn’t shown up at all. Then she would have been…

 _The sword went down and she heard someone screaming, but it wasn’t Farrel. It was Tess when she heard about her friend. Lynn felt how blood was streaming out of her wound._ Absently, she reached out to it but already felt some hands. They belonged to Tess, who had woken up. Then Lynn realized the scream wasn’t in her dream. It was real.

“Lynn! What’s going on?!” Horrified, she looked at her friend, who was laying on her lap.

Berrigan came closer when he heard Tess screaming. 

He thought Lynn had a nightmare again but was shocked to see that Tess’ hands were covered in blood. The girl looked up when the Ranger knelt next to her. 

“I- I don’t know what’s going on, Berrigan!” she said anxiously.

He looked at the auburn-haired girl on Tess’ lap and immediately knew something was wrong. She was shivering, mumbling, and restless. He touched her forehead and noticed it was warm, too warm. He remembered what he saw earlier in the day, so he put her hair aside and saw the wound, clearly irritated and bleeding. 

“Farrel has to look at this, hold on.” 

He hurried to Farrel who came out of the forest. He had collected some wood but threw it aside to get his first aid bag. 

Tess was in shock. How could this have happened? Lynn was doing fine. 

But that was a lie, she knew that. In the cell she had noticed that Lynn had been acting weird, hiding the wound, and not wanting to tell about it. Also during the travel, she wasn’t feeling well. In fact, she was already sick since they left Castle Araluen.

The Rangers came closer and Farrel crouched down next to them, taking Lynn off the Czech girl’s lap and held her with one hand. 

“Come, let him do his job,” Berrigan said, pulling Tess’ arm. 

But the girl shook her head. “No, I stay here.” She then glared at Farrel. 

“Is there anything I can do to help her and you?” 

“You think you can hold her still enough to let me clean it?” Tess nodded; she could do that. 

“Well then, I need you to take off her shirt. Otherwise, I can’t clean it well.” 

Tess wasn’t sure at first, but seeing the half-conscious girl in her arms, made her realize it wasn’t the time to think about that. Right now, it was important that the wound got cleaned. Farrel prepared a small fire in which he laid the blade of his throwing knife and Berrigan helped Tess with undressing Lynn. He held the girl from behind and even closed his eyes when Tess pulled the shirt over the girl’s head. 

Farrel showed her how to hold her friend. “Don’t let her move, understood?” 

He took Lynn’s hair and put it over her left shoulder. The wound was on the right side and it was really bad. He could see that it got infected and not just a bit. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” he asked angrily. “Now there’s a chance you’ll get severely sick. Did you think of that?” 

Lynn became afraid; this was exactly the reason why she hadn’t told him. She shivered when the Ranger touched her skin and examined it.

“Yes, I knew I should’ve told you, but I didn’t want to bother you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Farrel,” she said with a broken voice. 

The Ranger grumbled some words and concentrated on his work.

On the small fire, he also boiled water. When it was warm enough, he poured it into a bowl and took a clean cloth out of his bag. He turned to the sick girl, holding the wet cloth in his hand. 

He used his left hand to push Lynn’s head aside, making sure she wouldn’t move it and rinsed the wound. Together with wound fluid, there was also a lot of dirt coming out of it. Lynn tried to move her head and to slam the hand away, but Tess and Farrel didn’t give her a chance. 

“That shall do it for now,” the Ranger said after he had cleaned the wound. He put the cloth aside and took the knife out of the fire. Tess held her friend tighter in her arms when the Ranger came closer. 

“This is going to hurt a little bit.” It was the only warning Lynn got before he placed his knife on the wound. She felt the heat and cried silently. This wasn’t hurting ‘a little bit’, but a lot! 

She eyed the man from the corner of her eye as he burned the leftover bacteria. 

When that part was done, he laid his knife in the fire again and took out some salve. 

It smelled weird and Lynn didn’t like it. However, Farrel didn’t care about it and put a small amount on the wound. 

“It will take the pain away for some time. Meanwhile, I can have a closer look and see what the next step will be.” 

Farrel then saw the healed cut which Lynn got in the cell. There was no need for the stitches anymore, so he cut them and took them out. Lynn shivered once more; she had forgotten about that one. However, she didn’t feel a lot. The pain in her neck was taking over all the other pain and she was balancing between falling asleep and staying awake.

Tess thanked the man and helped Lynn with putting on her shirt again.

She laid her head on Lynn’s head, her left hand now on her friend’s head.

“Ty trotlíku,” she said, fighting her own tears. She couldn’t bear it to see her friend like this, but she had to be strong. For herself, for Lynn.

“I’m sorry Tess, I really am,” Lynn replied before falling in a deep sleep.

The Rangers were sitting in front of their tents, eyeing the movements of the girls. 

“I need to stitch it, but I’m not sure if she can handle it; she’s still feverish,” Farrel said to Berrigan. “But we can’t travel in this way so how do we get to Caraway Fief?” 

He laid his head in his hands, staring at the sleeping girl. 

“I assume that you can do that as soon as she’s not sick anymore?” Berrigan asked him. 

“Yes, but maybe that would be within some hours. She only got sick now, right? And I took care of it right away.”

Berrigan put a hand on his shoulder. “Let her sleep for a little hour and then wake her up to stitch the wound.” 

He got up from his place and walked to the horses to give them some attention. 

Farrel sighed. This was the most interesting mission he had ever done.

After an hour, he went to Lynn and nudged her shoulder. The girl didn’t want to wake up, so he tried something else. Farrel took his knife and placed the tip on her cheek. Normally he couldn’t do that, but since Berrigan had taken Tess with him into the forest, there was no one who would tell him not to threaten the girl. She anxiously opened her eyes. Lynn saw the Ranger next to her and gulped when he pressed the tip a bit further in her skin. 

“Get up, girl. We’re not done yet.”

She got up and watched as he took his bag and walked to a tree trunk. He beckoned her to come to him and she walked over to him.

Farrel was now sitting on the ground, his legs stretched, and his back against the trunk.

He told her to lie down in the grass and to relax as much as she could. 

Farrel’s crazy, she thought. How on Earth can I relax with him next to me!

However, she obeyed and laid down in the grass. 

The man placed her head on his lap and made sure the wound was visible. Her hair was already put together in a ponytail to make sure it wouldn’t get in the way. 

“Don’t move, or I’ll sting you with the needle,” he told her. Lynn paled. A n-n-needle?

Without waiting for her response, Farrel started to stitch.

Every time the needle went in her flesh, she yelped in pain. However, she didn’t dare to move, afraid that the Ranger would translate his words into deeds.

After almost fifteen minutes of hellish pain, Farrel was done. 

“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” If glances could kill, Farrel would be dead for sure. 

He took the salve again, put some on the wound to release the pain, and wrapped a bandage around her neck. Then he stood up and brought his bag to his tent. 

Lynn got up and took a few steps, but had to stop because of the pain. 

She scanned the camp and saw that there wasn’t anyone. No one would know… 

Lynn gently touched the bandage with her right hand and started to scratch it. 

“Leave that!” Farrel yelled when he saw what she did. 

He ran to her, threw her on the ground and yanked her hands behind her back.

“No! Let me go!” Lynn protested, trying to get out of his firm grip. 

“And let you ruin my job?” he snapped at her while holding her hands.

“Just let me, okay?” she cried.

At that moment, Berrigan and Tess returned, confused looks on their faces. 

“What did you do to her?” Tess shouted. She threw the branches on the ground and hurried to Lynn, trying to comfort her. The Ranger loosened his grip and, after Tess had helped Lynn on her feet, the girls went to their place. 

“What was that all about?” Berrigan hissed. “You were supposed to help her, not to threaten her! You know how Tess reacts-” 

He stopped when he saw his friend’s glance. 

“I did help her,” was all he said, before going to his tent.

The girls sat down and Tess pulled Lynn in a hug. “It’s okay, I’m here. Farrel won’t hurt you anymore,” she hushed her, patting her back gently.

Lynn calmed down a bit but was still too stressed. Her neck was irritating; causing pain not only around the wound but also her head and shoulders.

“He-” she began, but Tess held up her hand to make her stop.

“Don’t talk, just rest.” She stroked the girl’s hair until Lynn fell asleep.


	8. Friendly forcing exists and it's sCARY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One character enjoys death with benefits and the other is "friendly persuaded" to do all kinds of chores

Farrel had taken the last watch of the night. Just before dawn, he returned to their campsite and saw that Berrigan was already awake and preparing breakfast. Gladly, he sat down next to the fire and yawned. 

“Did you sleep well?” he asked the other Ranger.

“Yes, I did. Except for the moments when they woke me up.” He turned his glance to the girls and absently poked in the fire with a stick. 

_It was close to three o’clock in the morning. The stars were shining brightly on the night sky, supplying feeble light for Araluen. Berrigan’s watch had ended a few minutes before and he was trying to fall asleep. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem, but today, he was constantly being woken up by slight moans and cries coming from Lynn. The girl had another nightmare; there was no doubt about that._

_It seemed that Tess had woken up too, not being able to sleep with all the noise. In the weak light, Berrigan could see her form crawling closer to Lynn, gently shaking her._

_“Hey, you asleep?” she whispered, her voice resonating through the quiet night loudly. She nudged the other girl once more, trying to get her to wake up from her restless sleep._

_Then, a sigh could be heard._

_“I was until someone woke me up,” Lynn whispered, squinting her eyes at Tess. She was still so sleepy and wanted to go back to the dream realm._

_Tess hugged her. “Silly, you had a nightmare.” That was the end of their conversation. The girls fell back asleep, huddled close._

Farrel shrugged.

“They’re troublemakers, just as Crowley and I already told you. In all honesty, why are you trying to be nice to them? They’re criminals!”

Berrigan frowned when he heard the words. “Criminals? I thought that you both weren’t sure if they were responsible for the murders.” 

He watched as Farrel took a twig and broke it in pieces.

“Well, yes, but their stories are so… odd,” he smirked, shaking his head. He threw the twigs into the fire, watching as the flames burned bright for a second before calming down again.

“They keep telling us that they’re from the future, from two different countries that don’t even exist!” He looked Berrigan in the eyes. “Do you really think that’s the truth?” 

The Ranger placed his head in his left hand, tapping his chin with his fingers.

“I don’t know Farrel, but if they retell it over and over again, then maybe there’s some kind of truth in it?” He saw that his friend opened his mouth to respond, but he wasn’t done yet.

“No, wait, let me explain it. I have talked with Tess when we were gathering branches. She wasn’t that silent and told me some more things about herself.” 

This got Farrel’s attention. Both he and Crowley had tried to get to know the girls more, get some information out of them, but they had kept their mouths shut. He bent forward, eager to know more. 

“How did you do that? They didn’t want to say anything back at the castle!” he exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

Berrigan laughed and patted his shoulder. “It’s not that difficult you know?” Farrel didn’t understand what the Ranger was saying. What wasn’t that difficult? 

“Why do you think I’m so nice to them? They don’t trust Rangers; I saw that the evening I brought them their dinner. You hunted them down, captured them, and weren’t that nice to them. Crowley was nicer to them, but they also didn’t trust him that much.” Farrel growled. 

“There’s nothing wrong with what I did that night.” Berrigan nodded slowly. Farrel did have a point; he was just doing his job, there was nothing bad with doing what he did. 

“Yes, but because of that, they’re scared of you and they don’t trust you. Saying your name is enough to make them afraid, Lynn in particular.” Farrel frowned. 

“I saved her life by stopping the execution, she should be grateful!” he said indignantly. 

The girl should be glad he urged Nicker to gallop at full speed the whole way from Caraway to stop her execution. He could have very well left her to die, but he didn’t. He felt compelled to do it. If she was innocent, which she probably was, he didn’t want her to lose her life because of a single mistake he had made. Yes, during his career as a Ranger, he had made a lot of mistakes, some had almost cost him his life, but if he could help save an innocent life, he had to do it. 

Berrigan shrugged, casting a sideways glance to where the girls were. 

“If you paid enough attention to her, you would see that she struggles with that. You threatened her multiple times, harmed her, but also saved her life twice; from being beheaded and by taking care of that cut.” 

Farrel opened his mouth to answer, but Berrigan was right. He had seen how one moment she wasn’t afraid of him, but a few seconds later he saw the fear in her eyes. He was quite confused about all of this. The girl really had no reason to be afraid, as long as she behaved. 

“Okay, and what about the Aslavan girl?” Farrel asked. He wanted to see what Berrigan thought of her. “She’s afraid, but also very defensive. That stops the moment I threaten the other one.” 

This was a clear difference between the men: while both Crowley and Berrigan referred to the girls by using their names, Farrel still refused to do that.

The brown-haired Ranger smirked. Why, yes, he knew about the threats. Heck, he even knew what happened the night Farrel had caught the girls.

“She told me that it’s one of your favourite ways to make her cooperate. She’s strong, but you can see that Tess worries about her friend. And she has all the right to do so.”

Lynn’s mental health wasn’t well. She didn’t respond to questions, stared in the distance and it seemed like she was living in another world, away from all the pain she was feeling.

Tess woke up by hearing the Rangers’ voices and saw them eyeing her movements. The men heard her shuffling around, making noise, and looked in their direction. 

“I will look at the wound,” Farrel said, filling a bowl with warm water, taking it with him. He stopped near the horses, taking out a clean bandage from his saddlebag, as well as the salve. He then carried the items in one hand, clasping the bowl with the other. 

Meanwhile, sitting on a log next to the fire, Berrigan poured coffee in their mugs but waited with the breakfast until Farrel returned. 

Tess saw the Ranger coming closer and she poked Lynn softly with her elbow. 

“Wake up, Farrel’s coming!” she whispered urgently. That was enough to wake Lynn up, her eyes wide open and finding comfort and safety behind her friend. Both girls shifted so they were at the end of the rope that tied them to the tree. The Ranger was scary, both of them thought so. 

Farrel set the bowl on the ground, crouched down, and reached with his hand to her neck. The girl backed up even more, trying to get as far away from the man as she could. She cowered behind Tess, trying to look invisible. 

“Get here,” Farrel demanded. His voice, normally strict, was now more friendly. He was actively making an effort to look as unthreatening as he could, that was a first. 

“I just want to see how your wound is, that’s all.” Lynn didn’t trust him. What if it was a trick? She was eyeing him suspiciously from behind her friend’s back. 

It was Tess who said she didn’t need to be afraid. Lynn gripped her a bit tighter. She didn’t like that idea, but she trusted her friend. 

“Will you be here the whole time?” she asked Tess, waiting for a positive response. There was no way in hell she would let her wound be examined without Tess at her side, preferably keeping an eye on Farrel.

“Of course,” she said and Lynn nodded at the Ranger. She was ready. Well, as ready as she could be, given the circumstances. She sat with her back to the Ranger, pulling her hair sideways to grant him better access to her neck, and reaching out to Tess who held her hand. 

Farrel came closer, loosened the bandage, and unwrapped it. Lynn shivered when he touched her neck. There was still some blood, but not as much as the last time he checked it. While he held her head steady with his left hand (Lynn did try not to move, but it was hard not to yank her head sideways when he touched the vulnerable spot), he cleaned her skin around the wound and applied the salve before he wrapped her up again. 

Without saying anything, nor expecting a word of thanks, the Ranger stood up when he was done, took all the items, and walked back to his place and ate his breakfast. The two Rangers talked in muffled voices, coming up with a plan for that day, whether it seemed that Lynn was well enough to go on another trek or whether they should stay there for another day. 

When they were done, Berrigan brought two plates to the girls. Tess was hungry. After going through the forest, collecting wood with Berrigan, she was exhausted and they gave her only very little food the preceding evening (mainly because Lynn didn’t need any food since she was still suffering from extreme nausea at that time) and collecting wood wasn’t an easy job. She was starving by the time they gave them breakfast. So, when Tess got hers, she was already wolfing down the food. Lynn hesitated. She was looking at her plate with uncertainty. She could feel nausea coming back. What if she would throw up again? 

Berrigan saw her hesitation and gently pressed the plate in her hands. 

“I know what you think, but right now, you have to eat. Otherwise you’ll faint from hunger. We don’t want that to happen again, do we?” He smiled at her and then left. Lynn stared after him, absolutely dumbfounded. How on the earth did he know that she fainted from hunger that first evening in one of Castle Araluen’s cells? She looked at her food again. He was probably told by Farrel or Crowley. Still, it was a humiliating thought that the Rangers were telling each other about all they’ve done. She desperately hoped Farrel didn’t tell the others about the first morning and their need for a bathroom break.

Tess watched as Lynn ate her breakfast, eating only small bites at a time. It tasted well and that nausea she felt had slowly gone away, so she hoped that it would stay in her stomach this time. When she was done, she set the plate on the ground and leaned against the tree. Oh, how her wound itched! She wanted to scratch it so much! 

She moved her head and tried to find the spot. However, she was out of luck. 

“What the hell are you doing, Lynn?” Tess whispered angrily when she saw her. 

This wasn’t good. If Lynn managed to rip the stitches, they would never hear the end of it. She needed to act quickly, both for Lynn’s health and also for their safety. God knew what would happen if one of the Rangers saw what was happening. They could very easily meet the sharp edge of Farrel’s battleaxe. 

Tess grasped Lynn by her shoulders and pulled her near. 

“Let me,” Lynn murmured, resting her chin on Tess’ shoulder. The other girl stroked her hair. 

“It will be alright, Lynn,” she whispered into her ear. “Just hang in there.”

It was wise of the Rangers not to say anything. Farrel had already packed their tents and was now tying them behind their saddles. Berrigan wiped out their traces, only small marks from the fire were left. 

He walked to their prisoners and helped them on their feet. He took the rope in his hands and led them to the horses. The girls didn’t resist, slowly walking behind him. Farrel stretched out his hand and got the end of Tess’ rope. 

Lynn was happy she had to walk next to Berrigan again; he would help her if she needed it. She liked Whistle. She wouldn’t mind riding her again. But, she knew that as long as she was feeling well enough, there was no need for her to ride the horse. Through her fuzzy memories from her own time, she remembered something about a codeword for Ranger horses. Yes, it was unlikely she would ride on Whistle ever again.

“Are we ready to go?” Farrel asked, half turned around in his saddle. Tess was standing next to Nicker with one of her legs relaxed, looking almost like a horse herself. Nicker too stood on three legs, having one of the hind legs bent in relaxation.

“We’re waiting for you,” Berrigan teased him. Farrel rolled his eyes and pressed his heels in Nicker’s flanks. Berrigan followed his example and the four were on the way again.

They rode in silence on the big road. The girls looked around and enjoyed the view they saw. Farrel kept staring into the distance in front of him, not paying attention to Tess and that she started to struggle a bit with walking. Her foot hurt again, but not as much as the day before. She could certainly handle this. Or, at least she hoped she could handle it. 

Berrigan, on the other hand, observed Lynn. She was walking with her head low and tried to keep herself from scratching. From time to time, she did try; her wound itched a lot. She would always shrug her shoulders, trying to reach her neck with a shoulder blade. Usually, her attempts ended up with strained neck muscles and it was even more painful than the whole injury. 

“Are you feeling alright? And don’t lie this time,” the Ranger asked her. He knew she had tried to scratch herself and was genuinely worried. 

It took a couple of seconds before Lynn glanced at him and responded. 

“Yes, I’m feeling well. No signs of nausea.” Her gaze went to the ground again, making clear that was all Berrigan would hear. 

During the morning, Lynn had tried it several times, never succeeding. When she did it for the third time, both Rangers silently communicated. They looked at each other from the corner of their eyes. Berrigan had to narrow his eyes against the sun, but he made a slight motion in Lynn’s direction, making clear to Farrel that something was wrong. 

The Caraway Ranger leaned in the saddle and scratched Nicker between his ears. The horse raised his head, his ears facing backwards, listening to his rider.

To an ordinary person, it would look like the Ranger was giving attention to his horse, but in truth, it was a silent communication between the two Rangers. Neither one of the girls noticed that Berrigan patted Whistle’s neck; Lynn was looking at the ground and Tess seemed fascinated by nature. She was focusing on the landscape, trying not to think about her hurting foot.

Either way, it was then that Farrel started paying more attention to the Dutch girl and how desperately she wanted to scratch her neck. 

When another try of hers failed, he narrowed his eyes. It would be irresponsible to let her continue with this. She could actually succeed and make it painful for both of them. 

“Girl,” he said, forcing a kind smile on. Both girls looked up. When they saw his expression, Tess stopped for a moment before she was pulled along by Nicker, and Lynn paled. 

She knew what she had been doing. Fearfully, she looked at the Ranger. 

“You know what we talked about, right?” Farrel pressed on, making Lynn swallow nervously and nod. Yes, she knew. She lowered her head again, trailing behind Whistle for a few more hours. 

Farrel eyed the position of the sun and decided that soon, it would be time for lunch. However, he had other plans. It would take them a little under an hour to get to his cabin. He wanted nothing else than to go home, bring Nicker to his stall, and take a rest. 

“What do you think Berrigan?” Farrel began, indicating he wanted to discuss something. Berrigan understood the hint and nudged Whistle closer.

“We’ll reach my cabin within an hour. You can eat there while I’ll need to go report to the castle.” He turned to his colleague. “You think you can handle those two on your own?”

Berrigan raised his eyebrows, playing offended. 

“Me, not being able to watch them? Don’t make me laugh.”

Farrel smirked and Berrigan enlarged the distance between them again. The girls shared a look. Farrel would go away for a while, leaving them only with Berrigan? That seemed good. Berrigan had been quite nice to them so far. 

They had been walking for hours now and their legs felt like jelly again. They were hungry, hurting, and, above all, they were incredibly homesick. Never, ever had they wanted to go home more.

At one point, they left the main road and headed into a forest. Tess recognized it as the way to Farrel’s house. 

She tried to see if Lynn had also noticed it, but the girl wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings. She didn’t recognize the places. She followed wherever she was led to and didn’t think much of it. She was tired and, trailed behind the horse, her knee starting to bother her again after walking for so long. 

They reached the cabin in a short time. The forest had turned into a clearing, the trees separating, revealing a hidden building there. A sandy path led from there in the other direction. However, after a few hundred feet it dissolved into a regular forest path that was mainly used by the animals. 

The Rangers halted their horses on the clearing. Berrigan dismounted, letting his mare’s reins fall to the ground. 

Farrel untied Tess’ rope and handed it over to him. 

“Tie them up in the empty stall, Whistle can stay outside for now,” he said, tapping Nicker on his belly, urging him to walk. 

He turned him in the castle’s direction. At the edge of the clearing, he briefly looked at the remaining group. “I’ll be back before dinner!” 

Berrigan was left standing next to Whistle, holding two ropes in his hands, and brought the girls inside the stable.

“It’s like we never left,” Tess commented, quite cheerfully, but Lynn didn’t respond. Instead, she looked down at the grass under her feet. 

They sat down on the straw and waited until Berrigan was done with tying the ropes to the metal ring in the wall. Their arms weren’t put up like when Farrel had tied them that first night, but they were resting on the girls’ laps. They stretched out their legs on the straw, almost making Berrigan trip over them. It felt great, to sit down and relax. And, the girls knew, they would have a lot of time to relax here. Close to twenty or so years. 

“I’ll bring Whistle to the small meadow next to the stable and then make some lunch.”

Berrigan announced when he stood up. He walked out of the stall, locking the door behind him. Which, by logical connotations, he wouldn’t even have to do since the girls were tightly tied to a wall. 

It took half an hour before the Ranger came back, but he didn’t have lunch with him. 

He unlocked the door and Tess saw one single cup in his left hand. She frowned. What was he going to do with that? Also, why did he only have one? In her mind, that was highly suspicious. 

Berrigan knelt down next to Lynn. Tess became even more suspicious, but the Ranger shook his head. She knew Lynn was barely conscious and needed the fluids but she didn’t trust Berrigan’s intentions. He held the back of the sick girl’s head as he helped her drinking the water. 

Lynn wasn’t feeling well. It was like her mind had moved all the sounds and movements to the background. She felt that Berrigan placed the cup to her lips and held her head raised so she could drink. 

She wanted to tell Tess not to worry, that she was okay besides the pain in her neck and the nightmares, however, she couldn’t. For some reason, she couldn’t talk. She knew the words, she knew how to pronounce then, but she couldn’t get any sounds out of her mouth. It frustrated her a lot and made her sad and gave her the feeling she was all alone. A tear slid down her cheek when the Ranger let go of her head.

“Your friend is weak, she should get some rest,” Berrigan said, but Tess could hear it wasn’t a suggestion. She knew he was right and waited until Berrigan had untied her, so Lynn could sleep in a more comfortable way. Tess helped her to lay down on the ground, but, at the same time, she hated how she was unable to help her friend. Once on the straw in a nice position, Berrigan tied the rope to the metal ring.

Tess stroked Lynn’s hair, watching as her friend closed her eyes, becoming as motionless as a statue, except for the regular rising and falling of her chest as she took deep breaths. The Ranger sensed her staring at him. “You, on the other hand, can go with me.” 

Tess bit her lip. Leaving Lynn behind wasn’t something she liked to do, but she didn’t want to anger the man. She hesitated, uncertainty clear on her face. 

“Nothing will happen to her,” he assured her when he saw her dilemma. Tess narrowed her eyes. Well, she could believe it that Lynn wouldn’t get an unexpected visit and she would also be fifty feet away at the maximum.

“Okay, I’ll go with you then,” she said, wariness seeping through her tone.

He loosened the rope around her hands and took her out of the stall. She looked over her shoulder at Lynn and then followed Berrigan to the front of the house. She had never seen a Ranger cabin this close up. It looked like any other cabin like the ones she had seen in the Czech mountains, with a porch and everything. Only, well, Araluen was a big plain. 

She stopped in front of the building, not sure if she could enter or not.

“Are there any problems?” Berrigan stopped, asking her in an exhausted tone. He knew she didn’t trust them, but this timidity was becoming old fast. Farrel wasn’t there, she could ease up, right?

“Do you think Farrel will be happy if he sees me inside his house?” She didn’t want to think about the consequences. They would surely involve meeting a nice old acquaintance - Farrel’s knife. 

Berrigan snorted. “Who said you’re going inside? Stay here and I’ll get our lunch.” 

He disappeared in the cabin but left the door open. Tess, as curious as she was, glanced at the furniture she could see. It wasn’t much; from her place, she only saw a wooden table with chairs. Well, she shrugged, every house must have those.

Within some seconds, Berrigan returned with two plates, giving one to her. The Ranger sat in the grass, motioning for the girl to do the same. Tess didn’t have her ankles tied, only her wrists and the knot wasn’t that tight, she actually had some liberty to move her arms and hands around. She flopped onto the ground, accidentally biting her tongue when it hurt more than she expected. 

After wishing each other to enjoy their food (she may have been caught, sentenced to twenty years in prison, treated rough and everything, but she wasn’t forgetting being polite), Tess ate her food, eyeing the Ranger next to her. 

“Will Lynn also get something to eat later on?” she asked after a while. 

Berrigan tilted his head while he thought of an answer.

“I don’t think she will eat in the next hours.” The way he said that made Tess stop eating. She narrowed her eyes, the suspicious feeling coming back and hitting her like a bus. “What do you mean with that?” she demanded angrily. 

Berrigan smiled, making her uncomfortable. 

“Because she will sleep until the afternoon. Just before Farrel comes back, she’ll wake up. He can examine her after he has eaten.” 

Her eyes widened when Tess understood what he had told her.

“You put something in her water!” she replied, her voice getting higher. Now she knew Berrigan had put something in her friend’s drink, and she was properly angry. 

But, she couldn’t help feeling grateful that he helped Lynn get rid of her suffering, at least for a little while. 

“I did, but only for her. The drug itself is harmless when applied properly. She needs rest and dreamless sleep, don’t you agree with that?”

Tess couldn’t do anything else than agree with the man. He was right; Lynn did need plenty of rest. She was just conflicted as to if this had been the best way how to ensure that. She set her gaze onto her food, thinking about nothing and everything at all. 

“Are you done eating?” the Ranger asked her suddenly. Hastily, she ate the last food on her plate and handed it to the Ranger. “Now I am. Thank you, Berrigan.” 

Tess waited outside (the man didn’t even tie her to anything; he had confidence that she wouldn’t try to escape without her friend) and thought that she would be taken back to the stable, but she was wrong; Berrigan had other plans.

“Lynn will be okay, we will do some chores until Farrel’s back,” he said when he returned outside.

Tess soon learned ‘we’ meant ‘you’. The Ranger let her clean the stables, as well as cut the wood into small pieces to use for the fire in the fireplace, and to cook. She also had to clean the windows and sweep the floor. Not to mention clean all the kitchen utensils. 

But, Tess usually didn’t recognize that playing with things during cleaning was a bad thing. Well, she did know that she shouldn’t do it, but alas, she didn’t care about that. This meant that an ordinary task which she could complete in twenty minutes took her almost an hour and Berrigan was becoming tired. 

Once, he called out from the window: “We don’t play with a whisk, Tess!” but apparently, it hadn’t worked. It did, for a while, then Tess forgot all about the Ranger’s warning, and happily continued to dig herself a grave. 

Meanwhile, the Ranger of Caraway Fief was at the castle. He had to report what he had done and if there was any progress in the search for the murderer. The Baron’s soldiers had been searching the whole fief for a whole week now, and while Farrel did help with that, he also had to be present at Castle Araluen most of the time. He wasn’t happy to see that the Baron had recalled all his troops back to the castle since he had thought that the murderer had been caught.

The Baron wasn’t happy when he heard about the King’s decision to let the girls stay in prison for 20 years. “They’re murderers, it’s easy like that! Just behead them!” he yelled angrily, slamming his hands onto a table.

Farrel had pointed out that the man was on thin ice, giving the fact that he was talking with a King’s Ranger. The man had cooled down after he heard that little fact again but was still angry that the murderer was walking around. It was not only for the safety of the villagers but also to judge the person. They had lost at least six boys, all innocent to the core, and one woman. Thinking of her made his blood boil. He couldn’t bear to see his Battlemaster grieving, not being able to give him the name of the man who killed his wife in cold blood. Even worse, the murderer was after his son, but the kid was safe in Redmont Fief. His mentor, the legendary Ranger Halt, watched over him and Baron Arald made sure the boy would be safe. 

“Just capture the person Farrel, before there will be more innocent lives taken away.”

Farrel closed the door behind him and sighed. This wasn’t an easy mission. They barely had any information and the only one who did know something, was sick and switching between consciousness and unconsciousness. 

He walked downstairs through a labyrinth of corridors to the stable. He had left Nicker’s saddle on when he arrived so he had only loosened the girth. Now, he tightened it again and mounted the horse. 

_You look like you can use a cup of coffee_ , Nicker said. 

“This time I totally agree with that,” Farrel mumbled under his breath. 

The horse snorted. _You’re no fun_ , he remarked and shook his head. The Ranger nudged him forward and the two left the castle.

By the time he came home, the Czech girl was resting in the grass. Berrigan was nowhere to be found, the only indication of his whereabouts was the open door of the cabin. Moreover, he couldn’t notice if the girl was tied to anything, meaning that she could make a dash for it anytime and Berrigan wouldn’t even know. 

“What on earth are you doing outside?!” he barked, standing in the stirrups and looking at her with narrowed eyes.

Hearing his voice, Tess jumped up from the ground and backed up. This wasn’t her fault! So he couldn’t punish her, right? With growing fright, she realized that Farrel could, and would, punish her even if she wasn’t at fault here. 

“I let her out,” Berrigan replied, sitting in a chair on the veranda. Farrel couldn’t see him at first when he focused on the girl. 

“Tess was so friendly to do some of your chores,” he added.

Farrel dismounted, let the reins drop on the ground, and walked to them.

“Is that so?” he questioned, looking at her. The girl shrank under his watchful gaze. She didn’t like the Ranger looking at her like that. 

“You better didn’t move or break anything,” Farrel warned her in a low tone. She frantically shook her head, hands raised up in defense. She wanted the Ranger to see that she really didn’t have anything to attack him with, to try to escape, or just that she wasn’t dangerous at all. 

“No, I didn’t,” she replied in a high (read: scared) voice. “Berrigan was watching me the whole time, you can ask him,” the girl added hastily if the Ranger didn’t believe her for some reason.

Farrel nodded but didn’t pay any attention to her anymore. “What about the other one?”

Berrigan swallowed his coffee before he answered.  
“Inside the stall, hands tied and sleeping. She should have woken up by now. Nice time to check her up, don’t you think?” He said, a devilish undertone lacing his voice. Tess jerked her head in his direction. What a bastard! 

Farrel’s eyes lit up when he heard that and he glanced at Tess with a smile she didn’t like. The girl glared at him from her place on the ground, slowly folding her legs up underneath her so she could stand up. Of course, it was a noticeable movement and, if anything, made the Ranger smile even more. He knew he could take her on, with her wrists tied and everything. 

“Excellent idea! If you two continue with the chores, then I’ll unsaddle Nicker and see if the girl’s awake.” He turned around on his heels, taking the reins off the ground. His horse obediently followed him and they walked to the stable. 

Tess had only managed to stand up when the Ranger came closer without making a sound and grasped her by the arm. Her immediate reaction was to yank her arm forward but Berrigan’s steely grip prevented her from doing so. 

“You heard the man, Tess. There are more things to do!” The girl was pulled inside to continue with her amazing afternoon duties and also to start with dinner.

Lynn had woken up shortly before Farrel returned to the cabin. When she sleepily opened her eyes, she was terrified the see the empty space next to her. Tess was nowhere to be seen and the girl almost started hyperventilating. What if something had happened to Tess? What would she do then, all alone with the Rangers?

… The Rangers! Lynn frantically tried to look over the stall door. Was Tess taken by the men? Where was she? 

Before she knew it, Lynn heard someone coming closer, but he or she didn’t enter the stall. The girl quickly closed her eyes, pretending sleep. Somewhere on her left, the person laid down a saddle and hung the reins on a hook. The man, she had already distinguished it wasn’t Tess (the steps were much heavier and she already knew that the Rangers liked to care for their horses, so that must’ve been one of the men), walked past her to the meadow. When he returned, he stopped in front of the stall she was sleeping in and unlocked the door. She opened an eye, partly knowing who she would see, partly frightened, and saw that it was Farrel. Lynn hurried to get up, not willing to experience the wonderful feeling of the Ranger’s knife on her cheek like he used to wake her up one day ago.

“Berrigan was right, you’re indeed awake!” His voice had something ominous in it and she didn’t like his tone at all. He came closer and knelt down to look at the wound. Lynn pressed her back on the wall. Without Tess as her human shield, she felt so vulnerable. Her eyes were wide with fear and she was doing her best to shrink away from the man, with no success so far. There was nowhere to go.

“Turn around,” Farrel demanded. Lynn, still pressed against the wall, wasn’t fond of showing him her back and not be able to see what he would do, but once she saw him lightly tap the handle of the Saxe knife, she gulped and realized that she had no other choice but to obey him.

She hesitantly turned around and the Ranger put her hair aside. He unwrapped the bandage and used water to unstick it out of the wound. It was still sensitive, and Lynn flinched only to feel Farrel hold her head steady, but it already looked much better than a day ago. 

“Hm, not as bad as I thought,” he mumbled. Lynn was glad to hear that, but she wished that it would stop swelling. Farrel pressed it at several points, making her moan in pain. She closed her eyes tightly, _it hurts, it hurts so much_ -

“Quit that, you know it’s your own fault that it got infected,” Farrel grumbled, annoyed that he had to deal with the girl’s pained sounds. He took her head in his hands and slowly turned it around, to see if there were any damaged nerves or muscles. Lynn’s face twitched in pain, but the man couldn’t see it of course.

“So far, things are going well. Within a few days, the wound should get healed more, and then I can take out the stitches,” he commented casually. Lynn turned around, immediately forgetting the pain she was in just a minute ago, facing the Ranger.

“T-take the stitches out?” she asked, a little horrified. Getting them _in_ was hell, but what to expect when he had to take them _out_? No, she wasn’t up to that, she had to prepare mentally for that kind of pain!

“Yes, or do you want to walk with them forever?” He let her face the wall again and cleaned the wound. Lynn bit her lip to keep herself from constantly crying out. She had suffered through this torture, tears welling up in her eyes near the end. 

Farrel packed his stuff and was already leaving when Lynn noticed that he hadn’t put any warmweed salve on it, not even a bandage. She could feel the fresh air around her wound. 

Lynn twisted her body to sit with her back against the wall again. Farrel stopped when he heard her moving, now looking down at her. 

“Why didn’t you bandage it again?” she asked curiously. “Or applied the salve? I thought you would use it again.” Immediately, she wanted to mentally slap herself. She had just started a sentence with “I thought”, which was, as it was well-known, a dangerous activity indeed. 

The Ranger didn’t move, still staring down at her like she was an idiot. 

“That salve is not something to use every day. You’re not in that much pain anymore, so I won’t use it. And for the covering: it needs to breathe. That’s not possible when there is a bandage on it. Also,” he returned to her, crouching down and telling her in a low voice, “if I see any sign of scratching, you’re mine. This is the first and only time I warn you: do not touch it.” 

Scared, Lynn hastily nodded. There was only a small soul in her body, and she was too afraid to ask what the consequences would be if she, by any misfortune, managed to scratch it, albeit unknowingly. 

Farrel went outside, locked the door, and left her alone in the stall. Immediately, she felt the urge to touch it, but she controlled herself, remembering the man’s words. _“If I see any sign of scratching, you’re mine.”_ His words made her fear of the man even bigger. How could someone like him be a Ranger?!

Lynn felt a lot better than before, but from time to time, she was still a bit sick. Her temperature had dropped, but she was tired and- 

Her stomach grumbled and she laughed like a maniac. “And I’m hungry,” she finished her sentence, not having a care in the world that it sounded so crazy. A small voice in her mind told her that she was going insane, talking to herself of all things, but the girl didn’t care. She was hungry, in pain, and missed her friend. But, at that moment, her stomach growled in agony again, and Lynn quieted down and started wishing for food. 

She was surprised that Tess still wasn’t around, but it was possible that the girl was with the Rangers. Farrel didn’t say anything about her, so she had to assume they’ve taken Tess to do some dirty job for them, just like they had done in the past few days. 

Thinking about that, she frowned. What had happened between the moment Berrigan had given her that water and when she woke up? She tried to remember, but nothing came back to her mind. It was as blank as an unused piece of paper. 

Suddenly, she remembered something. The water had tasted a bit odd, the same as… 

Then, it struck her. She was drugged, again! The first time was when Crowley had put the drug in her soup and now it was Berrigan! 

Lynn didn’t know if she should be happy that she got some hours of sleep or if she should be offended that he had tricked her. Or if she should be mad at herself for getting tricked twice already! With the same thing at that!

Either way, she hadn’t had a nightmare and slept some hours. At least she was glad for that. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on the wooden wall. She hoped dinner would be soon.

Meanwhile, Tess was fighting vegetables. She stood next to the table, peeling potatoes and carrots. She was quite slow. Back home, she used to do so many other things while cooking, she was a master multitasker, but here, she was expected to just do the job without any questions, quickly and efficiently. 

Tess couldn’t do that. Her brain never worked like that. She needed some distractions. From her work, she looked up. The sun was still high in the sky, it being almost summertime, and the whole cabin was lit by sunlight. It was only modestly furnished, some kitchen cabinets, a table, chairs, and a fireplace. 

While she was looking around, the girl forgot to continue doing her job, and suddenly, she felt a light tapping on her shoulder. She froze, realizing that she wasn’t doing what she had been “friendly persuaded” (read: ordered) to do. 

She turned her focus back on the carrots and potatoes, peeling them faster than before. However, after a few minutes, she felt the need to look up again or do anything else than just peel those damned potatoes. 

She shuffled, attracting Berrigan’s attention. The Ranger, skilled as Rangers were, silently came over to look at what she was doing. Berrigan wasn’t even surprised that she was not doing what he’d told her to do. The usually calm Ranger would probably let this slide, but the girl’s childish behaviour was starting to irritate him. Hunger also played a role in his current mood; he was hungry, and it wasn’t a good idea to provoke a Ranger with an empty stomach. 

Tess was happily sticking her finger in the bowl of water in which she put peeled vegetables. It was nice, cool water. Now if only she could have a drink…

The girl set her hand on the table for a few seconds, before she got the biggest shock of her life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be continued, what an evil cliffhanger >:D


	9. Can sing? Okay! Can't sing your fav songs? Less okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry girls, you still have to sleep on the floor

“Aaaaaaaah!” she screamed when one of Berrigan’s knives found its place in the wood right next to her hand with a muffled “thud”. Immediately, she yanked her hand close to her body, dropping the carrot she was holding in her other hand on the floor, and she took a step back, fear clearly visible in her features. 

Berrigan let the friendly facade fade for a moment when he growled: “Get to work, Tess.” In retrospect, he mused, he shouldn’t have lost his cool like that. He had been trained not to do that. He knew it was a mistake. After he had just started getting to know her, he made a fatal mistake, and now she would retreat back into her protective shell, just like she had been with Farrel, afraid, and reluctant. 

Granted, that had convinced Tess to do her work, but he couldn’t help but notice how she eyed him from the corner of her eyes, her sight never leaving him. She was afraid and he had destroyed what little trust she had in him. 

He sat on the couch. If he ever wanted this girl to trust him again, he should start mending their weak and scarred bond. 

“I’m sorry, Tess,” he started, making her flinch when he said her name. She looked at him with her eyebrows raised, still scared but also curious. 

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Berrigan said, making her furrow her brows in confusion. Why would the Ranger apologize to her? She didn’t understand. She effectively knew that she wasn’t doing her set work, he had been in right to warn her, or even punish her. She was, after all, just a prisoner, a criminal serving her sentence, and the Rangers held all the power in their simple dynamic. 

“I am hungry, I’m sure you are, too, but you were doing things you shouldn’t,” the Ranger continued, making Tess flinch when he so blatantly pointed out her mistake. 

“Get to work. The sooner you do it, the sooner Lynn will have her dinner.” 

Tess nodded and got back to work. She was almost done peeling the potatoes anyway. 

She had just put the vegetables on the fire to cook when Farrel had entered the cabin, looking over the small, (mostly) peaceful setting. 

He carried meat from the pantry and he set it on the table. He looked at Tess expectantly and the girl understood that she was to cut it. Sighing, she took a knife, and under the Rangers’ watchful gaze (of course, they wouldn’t let her use the knife unsupervised. It was already a great risk to them to let her use it; they had no idea how skilled she was in using a knife - spoiler: Tess only half-knew how to defend herself against a knife, but had no functional knowledge whatsoever about how to use the knife in an offensive way, but the Rangers didn’t know that) she started cutting the meat. 

“How is she?” Berrigan asked Farrel, aware that the girl was listening. The Caraway Ranger shrugged. 

“Better than yesterday. It’s not bleeding anymore, so I let it breathe,” Farrel answered, feeling the Aslavan girl’s gaze at him. Of course she was curious about her friend’s health, but, he supposed, she should have been mindful of her own health, too. 

It didn’t take even a minute. With Tess distracted and paying attention to their conversation rather than the knife in her hand, it was inevitable, really. 

Tess had cut herself with the sharp knife she had been given. 

“Ow!” she cried, letting go of the tool. The bloodied knife slid on the table, stopping in the middle. 

Tess clasped her bleeding hand, her lower lip trembling, fighting tears. 

Farrel walked briskly over to her. 

“You stupid girl!” he told her strictly. “Next time, pay attention to your work and not other people’s conversations!” Tess nodded sadly, tears now rolling down her cheeks. 

Farrel grabbed her arm and yanked her to him. 

“Show me that,” he ordered, not waiting for a response and forcing her to show him the injury. Tess cried when he twisted her arm. 

Farrel examined it; her hand was slimy from the meat she was cutting, and she was risking a not very nice infection if they didn’t clean it quickly. 

Fortunately, a few hours prior, Tess had been forced to carry buckets of water to the cabin. Now, Berrigan went out and filled a bowl with clean water, carrying them into the room. 

It stung when Farrel submerged her hand in the water. The clear liquid acquired a dark red colour, but only for a little while. He forced the girl to pull out her hand.

“It’s not that deep. You’re lucky, girl, you’re not in need of stitches this time,” he said with narrowed eyes and Tess released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. The Ranger threw a clean cloth at her with strict order to maintain pressure on the wound until the bleeding stopped. 

Tess saw it now, it wasn’t such a big of a cut. She had merely overreacted. After seeing Lynn get her stitches with no anaesthetic, she wouldn’t consider herself a fan of the medieval healthcare. 

She continued to apply pressure while Farrel took over for her in cutting the meat. First, though, he had to clean the knife. No way in hell was he cutting meat with a bloodied tool. 

Lynn jerked awake. She must’ve fallen back asleep after Farrel’s “friendly” visit. Her unconsciousness had a feeling she wasn’t alone anymore. It was right. 

“Farrel told me you’re doing better than before.” She looked up to see Berrigan entering the stable and walking to her. 

“May I sit there?” he pointed to a spot in the corner of the stall. She shrugged. If he wanted to, then who was she to say ‘no’? 

Berrigan opened the door and closed it behind him. He gave her a plate and a cup of water. She looked at it suspiciously, her eyes narrowed.

“Don’t worry, there’s nothing in it this time,” he replied, seeing her face. Right. _This time._ Lynn hesitantly took the plate while watching Berrigan’s face. It could tell her much about the Ranger’s intentions, but there was nothing. It was probably really just food with no drug mixed in. Lynn thought he would leave her now, but he sat down at her left side, his legs stretched.

“Any reason why you’re here and Tess isn’t?” she asked, her mouth full of food. Boy, she was hungry. She absolutely forgot about that during her little nap, but the hunger came back full force and she was glad Berrigan came over with food.

“She’s inside with Farrel and I’m here to keep you company. Eating alone isn’t fun, don’t you think?” She knew there was another reason for him being there but she didn’t think of it that much at the moment. Her dinner was delicious and she enjoyed it. Shame it’s not that much, she thought, but eating a lot of food too quickly would result in stomach aches and, to be honest, she wouldn’t be looking forward to that.

Once finished, Lynn gave the plate back, but the Ranger laid it next to her on the straw. Maybe he’ll tell me now what is this all about, Lynn thought. And indeed, she got the real reason as to why the Ranger was there, sitting amicably with her.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, pointing at her vaguely. Lynn narrowed her eyes. That was the reason why he was there? To ask how she felt? 

She shrugged. Sure, it could’ve been better, but it also could’ve been much, much worse. She shivered, remembering how Farrel had to clean and stitch her wound. She truly didn’t want a repeat of that. 

“Good,” she replied shortly, still not sure what she should expect of this conversation.

“Tess has already told me something about herself. What about you, Lynn?” His blue eyes looked at her and it was difficult to deny them anything. Berrigan was just that type of person who would get a free puppy if he looked at you with his big blue eyes and smiled.

“You know my name already, no need to repeat that, I guess,” she replied, making the Ranger smile. “And I’m pretty sure you also know in which country I live, so we can skip that too. You want to get some more…” she waited a moment, playing with the sentence, carefully making it in her head, and then continued. “Personal information. Am I right or am I right?” 

It was safe to say that Berrigan hadn’t expected this. He realized that all the time they’ve been on their journey here, she had been (or just looked) absent while, at the same time, she was well aware of what was happening around her. 

“I might be sick and wounded, but I’m not stupid,” she said, a smile on her face. Berrigan had to admit, she was a tricky girl, that was for sure.

“Okay,” he held his hands up in surrender, “you got me. That’s exactly what I want to know.” The man and the girl stared for a few moments at each other, neither one wanting to break the eye contact first, only occasionally blinking, before Lynn talked again.

“If you want to know: I do like archery. I’m not as good as you Rangers are, but I can aim and shoot.” While she was smiling at first, it had now disappeared. Instead, she was frowning. 

“Unfortunately, Farrel confiscated my bow and quiver the night he captured us. I hope he still has them, otherwise, I’ll be pissed off.” 

Berrigan smirked. “Why?” As a Ranger, he did understand this girl’s bond to her bow, after all, he was quite fond of his own bow too, but Farrel and Crowley said that she probably got the bow in some shady way. Or was that not true? 

If looks could kill, he’d be dead by now. “Well, I saved my money, which I got by working hard if you wanted to ask that, to buy it. And now it’s gone. So, if he did something to it, I’ll break his neck.” She wasn’t sure if she could say it, but she did mean it. She was very proud to have it and didn’t want anything to happen with it. While she didn’t believe that she’d actually be capable of breaking Farrel’s neck, she could most certainly try, and Tess would surely help her. Lynn could act on her emotions when provoked.

“Then it’s good that he kept it in his room, safe and well. No scratches or any damages.” Berrigan said, a slight smile playing on his lips. Lynn was relieved to hear that. She relaxed a bit and leaned against the wooden planks that separated the two stalls. The Ranger’s eyes were still focused on her, so she figured out that he wanted to know more about her.

“What else do you want to know? Let’s reverse it because I don’t know what you want to know,” she suggested. The Ranger probably had a better idea of what he wanted her to tell him. Berrigan nodded and thought about it for a moment, resting his fingers on his chin in a thinking manner. 

“What about music? Do you play anything or do you sing?” 

Lynn laughed. It was a sincere laugh, the first one in days. 

“I used to play the flute. My teacher said I had talent.” She thought back at that moment, so many years ago. “About singing: I think that if I do that, Farrel will cut my throat open for sure. I can’t sing.” 

The Ranger’s eyes had lit up when he heard about the flute. A fellow musician?

“Do you think you can still play it?” he asked her. He was excited. No other Ranger understood music and he never met many peasants who would know what a chord was. 

“Yes, but I can’t play in front of others, so put that idea out of your mind mister.” No, thank you, Lynn didn’t want to play for the Rangers. They were still her captors and she didn’t want to fraternize with them that much. 

The brown-haired Ranger let his shoulders hang for a moment, but he wasn’t defeated yet. “And music in general? What kind do you like?” 

Lynn had to think about that for a moment. “Well, I do like classical music-” She paused when she saw Berrigan frown. Now it came to her, they probably didn’t know what classical music was yet, or, if they did, their classical music was very different to her definition of it. “- the ones they play at official parties and so on, and also folk music. Like, the ones you hear in inns, at festivals. That kind of songs.” 

She has some good taste, Berrigan thought. He could play well, and he could liven up the evenings with his gitarra. Of course, he knew almost all folk songs. Maybe Lynn knew some of them? Of course, he thought, if she truly came from another time, she wouldn’t know any, in that case, he could teach her. He’d just met another musician, albeit she was a prisoner right now, and he wasn’t passing this chance up.

It seemed that Berrigan didn’t have any more questions and Lynn intervened.

“What did you do with Tess all afternoon?” she asked, curious to know what dirty job did her friend have to do. Last time, it was just gathering firewood, but they arrived at their final destination now, and there’d be so much free time to think of other crazy jobs. 

Berrigan was in the mood so he told her what all Tess had to do. Of course, he’d avoided telling her about his slip up, and also about Tess’ injury. She didn’t need a heart attack. They still needed her. 

They talked until the moment Farrel returned with Tess. The girl was happy to see her friend awake and well. She rushed to her friend and crouched next to her, clearly showing her hand. It was bandaged, Farrel took care of that, even if it wasn’t that big of a cut. 

She saw how Lynn visibly paled and this shock also probably added a few silver strands to her auburn hair.

“Sorry for interrupting your tea party,” Farrel said, “but we need to bring the horses inside. That means that you two,” he pointed at Tess and Lynn, “will need to move.” 

Berrigan helped Lynn on her feet and guided her outside. Tess followed them by herself, feeling a bit guilty that she quite possibly made Lynn worry. 

They had to wait in front of the stable until the horses were brought to their stalls. Tess used the brief moment of privacy to talk with Lynn.

“How are you Lynn? And what did you talk about with Berrigan?” she asked her.

Lynn jerked her head to look at her and hissed in sudden pain. 

“How am I? How am I?” she whispered roughly. “How are _you_ , Tess? What happened to your hand?” Her friend smiled shyly and raised her good hand to scratch her neck. 

“Well, they were talking about you and I wanted to eavesdrop but I kinda… didn’t pay attention to what I was cutting?” She cringed so hard as she said it. It sounded so childish, to be distracted by such a thing. Surely she could have done both things at once, right?

“Sufkous die je bent,” Lynn said. It was just like Tess to injure herself and Lynn was dreading every new day, thinking of all the things her friend could find to make her own life miserable. 

Tess leaned closer to Lynn. “Okay, enough about my clumsiness, what did Berrigan want with you? How are you doing?”

Lynn had to think of an answer. She felt better than before, but still not the same as when they were at home. Briefly, she wondered if she would ever feel like her past self before all of this happened.

“I’m doing fine, so far. Still a bit sleepy from whatever Berrigan put in my water, that wound is still irritating like hell, but at least it’s closed and not bleeding anymore,” Lynn replied. Talking about the wound brought back the desire to touch it, but doing it now would be very dangerous. There was no bandage to protect it. Heck, Farrel would notice it within a second if she scratched it! And then she’d be a dead man, or woman. She didn’t talk for a few seconds, making Tess wonder what was going on inside Lynn’s head. 

“For your question about Berrigan, we just talked. He wanted to know me better and asked me the same questions he asked you.” She finally faced Tess who was frowning. How could Lynn know that? She had been sick and not really aware of what was happening during their travel back to Farrel’s cabin. Lynn noticed the confused look and smiled. 

“I heard everything that was said by you and them. I just couldn’t answer for some reason.” She lowered her head again and Tess could feel that there was some change in the atmosphere around them. She bent forward to see Lynn’s glassy eyes. 

“It felt like I was invisible; I could see and hear everything, but you couldn’t see or hear me. To be honest, I don’t know what’s worse: spending days in an isolated cell, or this.” She blinked, trying to get the wetness out of her eyes, but it resulted in tears. She quickly wiped them with the back of her hand. 

Tess shifted her gaze around, taking note of where the Rangers were. They weren’t in her field of vision, good. Leaning close to Lynn, she whispered, “Berrigan almost cut my hand off.”

She saw Lynn’s face go deathly white and it immediately occurred to Tess that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to put it like that. 

“He did _what_?” Lynn whispered back, getting over her initial shock. Tess shrugged. 

“I was too slow with making dinner and he got impatient,” she replied, shivers running up her spine when she thought of _that_ moment. She truly believed she would lose a hand. She looked around again.

“All I’m saying, what if he’s faking that nice exterior?” she whispered, her eyes shifting over to the stable doors. Lynn looked over there too. It was quiet, the Rangers were probably still caring for their horses. 

“He was nice, but he did drug the water,” she said in a low voice. The truth was, Berrigan was nice, but he was still a Ranger and his ethical view on some things was a bit different than other people’s. Just like Farrel, he didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. 

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell him anything more about ourselves?” Tess suggested, raising her eyebrow. Lynn shrugged. 

“Let’s see, we don’t really have much of a choice if he threatens us,” she said. It was Tess’ turn to pale now. She was opening her mouth to answer when a movement caught her attention. The men were coming out of the stable. 

The Rangers returned, making an end to their conversation. 

“Inside with you two, chop chop!” Farrel pushed them in the direction of the porch. After the first unsure steps the girls picked up the pace and with the Ranger in tow, they went to the entrance to the cabin and inside. 

When Nicker and Whistle were brought to their stalls, it was getting darker. By now, the last sun rays had disappeared, making place for the moon and the stars. The meadow was illuminated by celestial bodies but it was still scary with the dark forest surrounding it. 

Lynn hadn’t seen the cabin from the inside before and was surprised to see how cozy it actually was. On her right hand, she saw a fireplace (a fire was happily burning there, illuminating the room), in front of it, there were a couch and two chairs. The kitchen with a dining table and four chairs were on the other side of the room. She saw two doors in the back of the house, probably bedrooms. Berrigan’s gitarra was laying on the table, but it didn’t seem like the Ranger planned to play that evening.

The Rangers, of course, entered right after the girls. Farrel pointed at the couch. Tess and Lynn shared a look; they had already figured they would sleep in the most uncomfortable places, just like they had been forced to this past week. 

The girls were instructed to sleep in the living room; one on the ground, the other on the couch. There was only one blanket though, and it was laying neatly folded on the couch. 

The girls were also presented with two nightgowns that they were supposed to wear at night. Of course, the Rangers granted them some privacy to change. They emerged wearing white nightgowns that reached their ankles. 

“The person who sleeps next to the fireplace will get enough warmth from the flames,” Farrel explained. That seemed fair, they thought. They could be glad they got at least one blanket. The Rangers could have given them nothing, after all. The girls stood there, looking at their “beds” like they just woke up. The Rangers left them there. The door was shut with a latch and moreover, the Rangers would immediately notice it they tried to escape. The girls had nowhere to go, after all. 

Berrigan walked to the kitchen to make some coffee for him and Farrel, the girls got water (of course, Tess enjoyed the fruits of her hard work, especially since she had to carry a heavy bucket all the way from a stream to Farrel’s cabin).

After they sat themselves at the table, sipping the coffee, Berrigan had taken hold of his instrument. He plucked a few strings and the room was filled with melody. 

The girls turned around to look at the Rangers. Farrel had his best poker face on while Berrigan smiled warmly. 

“Do you girls know _Sunshine Lady_?” he asked. Lynn frowned and Tess just shrugged. They had never heard that song. Slowly, Lynn shook her head, making it clear to the Ranger. 

“ _Old Joe Smoke_?” Berrigan asked again. Once more, the girls had to shake their heads in confusion. By now, the Ranger must’ve thought they were illiterate or something. 

“ _Annalie Dancing_?” the man asked, desperation written all over his face now. For the last time, they had to shrug. No, they didn’t know any of these songs. 

Berrigan was at loss. These girls claimed to like folk music but didn’t know any song he had mentioned. Maybe there was just different music in their countries? 

He set his gitarra on the table again. “Well, what songs do you know?” He was genuinely curious, but the girls couldn’t shake the feeling that he was somewhat disappointed by them. He probably expected more of their musical knowledge. 

Tess shrugged. “Well, I really like _Veď mě dál, cesto má_ or _Tisíc mil_ ,” she said and three heads jerked her way. In the same way, three pairs of eyes were sizing her up like she was crazy. Tess smirked. 

“I said I liked folk songs, I never said they were in Common Language,” she explained, smiling devilishly. 

Berrigan sighed. These girls were starting thinking of things to outsmart them. 

“And you, Lynn?” he asked, looking at the Dutch girl. 

Lynn shrugged. “Me? For now, I like the songs of the High Kings,” Lynn said. Great. Now she was the one receiving confused looks. She looked from Tess to both Rangers. 

“What?” she commented their surprised faces. “You asked about what songs I like, and I told you.” 

Berrigan looked at Farrel, seeking some support. When the other Ranger didn’t move a muscle, he took his gitarra again and looked at the girls. 

“Today, I will be the one to sing, alright?” Both Tess and Lynn nodded, happy that they didn’t have to participate for today. Firstly, they really didn’t know any of those songs Berrigan mentioned, secondly, they were so exhausted that they could fall asleep when singing. 

The Ranger plucked the first chords of a jaunty song, a pleasant melody once again filling the room. 

After playing the chorus melody, the Ranger started singing. He had a nice tenor and it was great to listen to him.

_“Sunshine Lady_

_color of sunshine in your hair._

_Happiness is the gown you wear._

_I would follow you anywhere,_

_my sunshine lady.”_

The girls looked at each other. Berrigan had a likeable voice and it was nice to just enjoy his music. Tess noticed Lynn was humming quietly, like she had heard this melody before. Then, Berrigan started singing the second verse.

_“Spread a little light around,_

_sunshine lady._

_Isn’t it true?_

_I love you, la da da daa._

_Spread a little love around,_

_sunshine lady._

_You are the one_

_who lights up the sun.”_

He strung the last chords of the lively song and stopped, but one sound in the room persisted. It was Lynn’s humming. She continued with the song Berrigan had played, but then, Tess realized she was quietly singing as well. And not just any song. She was humming the exact same song Berrigan had just played. 

The Rangers, of course, noticed that. 

“Why did you say you don’t know it, Lynn?” Berrigan asked, setting his gitarra on the table and leaning forward. As she was interrupted, Lynn flinched and looked at him. She probably didn’t even realize she was humming along to the song. 

“It’s Słoneczna panna,” Lynn said, clearly distracted from her inner world. “It’s in Polish,” she added absentmindedly. The Rangers looked utterly confused about this.

“Polish?” they inquired in unison. Immediately, they looked at each other. Lynn didn’t react, making Tess look worriedly at her. The Czech girl realized she should probably respond instead of Lynn who didn’t seem to be in her right mind.

She looked at the Rangers, worry in her eyes. Not just worry about Lynn, but also what they would respond. Essentially, since the first day, the girls had been afraid to talk in their own languages around Farrel especially. 

“Euh, it’s an… Aslavan language? And Lynn’s half-Polish, so half-Aslavan,” she said, uncertain if Poland was in the Aslavan area. She figured it probably was. Poland was right above the Czech Republic, after all. 

Farrel slammed his fist on the table. A few drops spilled from his mug of coffee. Lynn instinctively shrank back where she was sitting; Tess did the same. Farrel didn’t seem like he was in a good mood and that terrified them both. Who knew what he would do to them. 

“And, pray tell,” he started in a low growling voice, “did you happen to not mention this when we interrogated you at Castle Araluen?” 

Lynn jerked and looked fearfully at Farrel. She nudged closer to Tess who was just as scared as she was. 

“W-well,” she said, stuttering nervously. “You only asked where I lived, not what my roots were.” As soon as the last words left her mouth, she regretted it. While she may have been stuttering at the beginning, she became increasingly bold as she gave her sassy answer. Now, Lynn worried she had overdone it. 

Berrigan put his hand over Farrel’s. 

“It doesn’t matter right now, no? It’s interesting information, but we have no need for it. Let the girl breathe, Farrel. Do you see how pale she got?” 

The Caraway Ranger had to look at the two girls and admit that they’ve gotten as pale as death itself, huddling together on the couch. 

He sighed. 

“Come here,” he ordered. Berrigan raised an eyebrow. What did Farrel want with the girls? The Ranger grabbed his mug of coffee and emptied it in two large gulps. 

Neither Lynn nor Tess moved from the couch. They knew, they knew that the wise choice would be just to obey the Ranger, but fear enveloped their whole bodies, preventing them from getting up and fulfilling Farrel’s request. 

“Get over here,” the Ranger repeated sharply. Lynn started trembling next to Tess. 

“We don’t have to play nice if you need a little more convincing,” Farrel smirked and he took out the Saxe knife, holding it out in the open for the girls to see its shiny blade. Lynn was shaking violently now. 

Tess gently shook her off her and slowly stood up, trembling with fear. 

“What are you doing?” Berrigan inquired, not too sure about all of this. Farrel didn’t look at him, only answered, “My favourite convincing method.” 

Berrigan put his hands on his temples and massaged the spot. He couldn’t look at this. No wonder those girls were so scared. 

Tess came to him, eyeing the knife suspiciously. Lynn followed, she was roughly between the couch and the table, but she was slower than Tess. 

The Czech girl stopped in front of Farrel, trying her best to maintain eye contact. She was relieved when Farrel put down the knife and it didn’t seem like he was about to use it. He just pushed the coffee mug into her hand. 

“Wash it,” he ordered and Tess nodded, not wanting to irritate him further. She waited for Berrigan to give her his mug too, and she had done her best to swill them out with only one functional hand. Lynn stood next to her and watched her movements over her shoulder the whole time. She wasn’t trembling nearly as much as she did before but it was apparent that she was still nervous. 

The Rangers stood up, Berrigan leaving the gitarra on the table. They looked over the room. Everything was fine, the prisoners were standing near the bucket but would go to their designated sleeping spots soon. 

Yes, everything was calm. Farrel put out the candle they had on the table and both Rangers headed towards their bedrooms. 

“Good night, girls,” Berrigan said, Farrel only rolled his eyes and made sure to slam the door shut.

Tess immediately made it a point to get Lynn to sleep on the couch. She sneakily crept up next to her and Lynn was pushed on the couch by Tess since she was too tired to resist. 

“You can sleep here; it’s better for your neck and the wound,” she said, laying the blanket on her friend and wishing her a good night. She herself laid down on the wooden floor, close to the fireplace. Tess shivered. The fireplace did provide some warmth, but only on one side. As soon as she turned around, the other side would get cold and Tess would turn around again. But, she was exhausted from all the work she had to do that day and fell asleep within ten minutes. 

Soon, everyone was asleep, except for Lynn. She was staring at the cabin’s door, wide awake. She really appreciated that Tess let her sleep on the couch, but she had seen that her friend needed it more.

When Lynn was sure that the other girl was sound asleep, she quietly slipped the blanket off her and stood up as silently as she could. The floor creaked and Lynn froze on the place, afraid that the Rangers might have heard it. Fearfully, she looked over to the bedroom doors and waited. When nothing happened, she released the breath she didn’t realise she was holding and was brave enough to walk around again. She made her way to Tess and lifted her from the ground. The floor squeaked and she once again hoped that the men wouldn’t be awakened by it. She turned around and laid Tess on the couch, tucking her into the blanket. She straightened and looked at her friend’s silhouette illuminated by the dim light.

“I think you deserve it more, sis,” she whispered, giving her a kiss on her head. Tess shifted in her sleep, rolling over to her side. Lynn smiled and quietly shuffled over to the fire.

What she didn’t know, was that Farrel had woken up and eyed them through a small hole between the door and the door frame. He had heard weird sounds and decided to go check on the prisoners so he could stop them if they were up to no good.

The fire had almost died by now but did supply enough light to give away that Lynn was now laying on the ground. She stared at the dying flames and, along with the flames, the warmth went away too. She shivered; this would be a cold night. She was already fast asleep when someone put a blanket on her.

It was also the first thing Lynn noticed as she woke up. When she laid down on the cool ground tomorrow, she expected to wake up shivering, but it wasn’t cold, instead, it was rather warm. She turned to her right side, making sure she wouldn’t touch her wound, and saw that Tess was still wrapped up in the blanket she had tucked her in last night. 

She frowned. If Tess had a blanket, then who (and when) gave one to her? She heard noises coming from the rooms connected to this one, probably the men waking up, so she quickly sat up and folded the blanket, only to find out it wasn’t a blanket, but a cloak. 

Frightened that she might’ve done something wrong (even though she had no idea how it appeared on her), Lynn scrambled to her feet to hang it at the hook near the front door. Once she was done with that, she looked around to see that the Rangers were still in their rooms, and went on to wake up her friend. 

“Tess, wake up, it’s morning!” Lynn nudged her friend’s shoulder, however, Tess didn’t react at all, let alone wake up, so Lynn had to think of something else. She was in a good mood today, and ready to tease her friend a bit.

The girl started to pace around the room, looking for a convenient thing that would help her. When passing around the fireplace, she noticed a small twig laying next to it. A devilish smile spread on her face. Tess had said on numerous occasions that she was easily scared and Lynn liked to tease her friends, and her especially. The Dutch girl took the twig and walked to her friend, the piece of wood hidden behind her back.

“Tess, wake up! There’s a spider on you!” With the end of the branch, Lynn went over the blanket, making Tess immediately shoot up from her position on the couch and giving her a heart attack. 

“Get it off me!” she screamed, slamming ‘the spider’ of her. Only then she heard her friend laughing and she realized her friend had teased her, again. She pouted and gave Lynn a pointed look that said “ _that’s not funny_ ”. 

“Sounds like you’re not that sick anymore,” they heard Berrigan saying. He greeted them as he walked to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Farrel appeared between the door a few minutes later, looking relaxed, but when he looked at the girls, his face changed. He saw some dark spots on the back of Lynn’s shirt and that meant only one thing. 

“You scratched yourself,” he said in a low voice, coming closer to have a better look.

Tess’ eyes widened in fear when she heard the words. She shifted her gaze from the Ranger to Lynn, desperately wishing it wasn’t true. She had started to stand up but was promptly sat back down by Berrigan who put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back onto the couch. 

Lynn had frozen on the place and, when the Ranger grabbed her shoulder so that she couldn’t get away and put her hair aside with the other hand to have a better look, she wished she could vanish into thin air. He placed both his hands on her shoulders. 

“You know what that means, don’t you girl?” Lynn’s face turned pale and she felt her heart sink when he whispered in her ear: _“You’re mine.”_

Lynn couldn’t move and was thinking of an excuse to explain how it could’ve happened. She didn’t want to be at Farrel’s mercy. 

“I- it happened when I was sleeping, I didn’t scratch on purpose!” she cried out, trying to postpone the moment when she would be punished by the Ranger.

Berrigan saw it and decided that she had a point. “Farrel, what she did in her sleep isn’t to blame on her. She wasn’t aware of it,” he remarked. Tess had finally stopped struggling in his grip so he had stopped applying such a pressure on her and was now trying to ease the situation. Tess nodded in agreement. “It’s not her fault Farrel! She didn’t want to scratch, it just… happened.” She made eye contact with Lynn to see her friend scared out of her wits.

Farrel looked at them without showing any emotions. Berrigan knew that face; he would do whatever he wanted and no one could stop him. For Lynn’s sake, he hoped Farrel wouldn’t be too strict on her.

“She knew she wasn’t allowed to scratch herself and yet she did.” 

He made a slight motion to the stables, asking Berrigan to leave them alone. He understood the hint and grabbed Tess by her arm, pulling her up from the couch. The girl didn’t want to leave her friend behind and struggled quite a bit, but Berrigan convinced her. “Come on, if we go now he might be not that angry.” 

With one last sad look at her friend, Tess followed the Ranger and the two of them went outside. 

Lynn didn’t dare move. Tess and Berrigan were gone and she was left alone with Farrel. If only she hadn’t scratched herself! The steely grip on her shoulders changed into pressing as he pushed her to the ground. Lynn yelped, falling on her knees. She thought it would suffice to just kneel, but Farrel pushed her down even more, making her lay on her belly, arms beside her body. Lynn blanched as Farrel sat on her back once again, clinching her arms with his legs, and pulled her hair aside. “Let’s see what you did to yourself.” 

Luckily, she hadn’t scratch that much. The stitches were still in their place, so Farrel didn’t need to do that again. Lynn was infinitely relieved when she heard him mumbling about how lucky she was. 

The Ranger ordered her to stay down as he went to fill up a bowl of water and get medical supplies. Once back, he took some water, cleaned her skin (although a bit rougher than before), and, what terrified Lynn even more, was that he kept silent all the time. Lynn wished that he would scream at her or at least say something; she hated this silence more than anything else. 

When he was done, he threw the water outside and went to his room. Lynn didn’t dare move a muscle, so she laid obediently on the floor, waiting. He returned within a minute or two and held something in his hand, but she couldn’t see it since it was behind his back. 

“Show me your hands,” he demanded. She slowly got up to her feet, holding her hands behind her back. Farrel took the item from where it was hidden behind his back and Lynn now saw he was holding a ruler. She didn’t want to show her hands, knowing what would happen to her, but there was no other option than to obey. The consequences of not obeying would be even more serious. She stretched out her hands and waited until the moment he would hit them.

Farrel didn’t want to punish her; he had hoped his warnings would be enough, but apparently, they weren’t. He could’ve thought about something else, but he didn’t want to traumatize her more. He knew she was aware of what she’d done and didn’t need a stricter punishment. In this way, she would hopefully learn that he was serious when he warned her not to scratch the wound.

He slapped the palm of her hands once, but hard enough to cause pain. Lynn yelped in pain and tears appeared in the corner of her eyes. 

“Turn them around,” Farrel commanded. She did so, and this time her knuckles were hit. 

“I hope you learned your lesson,” he commented, bringing the ruler back to his room and then started with making the breakfast.

Lynn waited on the couch, keeping her hands on her lap, and when Tess returned with Berrigan, the girl hurried to her. “What did he do?” she asked, concern evident on her face. Her eyes wandered over Lynn, stopping on her hands. 

The Dutch girl showed them to her. Now, they were still bright red and very painful. 

Berrigan looked over their shoulders and saw it too. He decided not to comment on it, shuffling over to Farrel to help him with food. Meanwhile, Tess put her arm around Lynn’s shoulders, pulling her into a side-hug. The girls sat like that until the Rangers put four plates down on the table. 

“Let’s eat, so we can get to the place where you two saw that man.” 

The girls left the couch, staying close to each other, and quickly wolfed down the breakfast. They only got water to go with it but they didn’t mind. 

After having food and putting the plates away for them to be cleaned later (preferably by one of the girls), the men ordered the girls to get up and they set off.

They walked all the way to the inn where the girls woke up when they first got there. Tess looked around. It all seemed so different during the day. But, they knew from which window they had jumped. The innkeeper complied with Farrel’s wishes and opened it, so they at least had that information.

Lynn and Tess showed where they had walked from the inn to the place where Farrel had attacked them and taken them prisoner. 

“We were standing here when I saw that the man lit the house over there on fire,” Lynn pointed out. In the distance, there was now a big, black space between two houses. Luckily, only that house was burned to the ground and the fire hadn’t spread to the other ones. It was strange to be standing at the same place, but in different circumstances. The Ranger horses with their riders stood right behind them, making sure they wouldn’t wander off.

One week ago, they were running away, not paying too much attention to what was happening around them and now they were helping the Rangers with solving the case. For this time only, they hadn’t any ropes around their wrists and ankles. It made it easier to walk through the forest and besides, there were two Rangers on their horses who kept an eye on them; escaping would be impossible.

“And in what direction did he go?” Farrel asked. He looked much bigger on the back of his horse, and Lynn closed her eyes and concentrated. With her finger she pointed the direction as she saw it happening again in her head. 

_The man, wearing a cloak and a hood to cover his head and face, was running through the streets, trying to get rid of that stupid boy. To think he wanted to kill that kid but only got his mother instead. That kid wasn’t getting tired, but he needed to get away as soon as possible. If he got discovered…_

_He saw a torch on one of the walls, took it in one swift motion, and scanned the houses around him. Which one would cause the most commotion?_

_There, a house with three small children! The parents weren’t paying attention when the torch was thrown on the roof. It hadn’t rained for a couple of days and the wood was dry, as well as the thatch roof. He casually threw the torch up on the roof and it immediately, caught fire. Everyone hurried to help the family and, that was the best part, the boy hesitated for a few seconds. When he was in the forest, he could see that the kid had given up and ran back to see if he could help the villagers._

Lynn opened her eyes again. “He went in that direction. There’s a small clearance not far away and that’s when I saw him again, heading to the hills over there.” Tess vehemently nodded in agreement. They didn’t know if it was north, east, south, or west, but Farrel seemed to know. 

“He went south-east, in the direction of the second forest which is behind the hills. Anything else?” 

Lynn shook her head. “No, that’s all I can tell you.” 

The Rangers looked at each other. While Berrigan didn’t know the terrain as well as Farrel did, he paid close attention and remembered the details Lynn provided. They looked to Tess, seeing if she could add something, but she only shrugged. 

“Can’t see well in the dark,” she said, pointing at her eyes. That was true, she had problems with her sight. Back in their time, she usually wore glasses or contact lenses. Right now, she wasn’t even sure if she had her monthly contact lenses on or if they had vanished along with almost all their belongings. Tess assumed that they didn’t. Her eyes didn’t get tired after being awake and attentive for more than three hours, but her eyesight was still very bad when the world around her plunged into darkness.

Berrigan shrugged when he saw her reaction.

“Let’s go back then. We know in which way he went, so we can make a plan on what to do next,” he suggested, and the four of them started going back to the cabin at a slow pace.

As they left, two eyes filled with burning rage inside followed them, especially the auburn-haired girl. It was because of her that the Rangers knew where they had to look for him. He growled, anger boiling inside of him. If that stupid boy hadn’t followed him, he didn’t have to burn that house down. Not that he cared about the kids inside, not at all, but the fire did make his face visible, and therefore recognizable, for those who were standing close. He was afraid someone would recognize him when he walked around in the environment, but that didn’t happen. The accident hadn’t had a lot of consequences, but now that strange girl threw a spanner in his works! He had to get rid of her, but if she would be guarded by her friend and the two Rangers, it would be difficult. He wasn’t yet sure how much of him did her friend see, but he would need to get her out of the way, too.

He thought about it for a moment, when he got an idea. He smirked.

“Prepare to die, and this time for real. No one will save you now, Lynn Jonker.”


	10. The girls are chilling... until they're not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get to know something about our main antagonist. A little time skip, enjoy your last pain-free moments, girls. Introducing a new character - homesickness, welcome, dear. And one of the girls' acquaintances makes a comeback! Sweet sweet panic attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little warning: at the beginning of the chapter, Lynn gets her stitches removed and then the girls discuss periods (nothing graphic though) if this stuff grosses you out. Also slight off-screen vomiting.

The forest was dark, the dim moonlight penetrating tens of tree branches. On a small clearing, there sat a lone figure dressed in a long cloak and his hood thrown up. A ray of moonlight landed right on the spot he was in.

The murderer was thinking. He should’ve killed the Battlemaster’s son. Instead, he got two or three witnesses to his unlawful actions and now he needed to get rid of those two girls and of course, Gilan, the boy he was supposed to kill in the first place. 

No one knew this, but he had been present at Castle Araluen, dressed in unusual clothing (for him at least), wearing a fancy hat, and watching the execution that failed in the last moments. That night, he killed an elderly woman in his rage. As long as those girls were alive, they would stand in his way. With enough information, the Rangers could actually track him down and that would be the end of his glorious plans. And, of course, his Master’s plans. 

While he was his Master’s go-to man to do dirty work, getting rid of people (oh, how he had enjoyed it when he could kill an old Ranger that was sneaking around Castle Gorlan a few years back), but the damned kid! 

Lord Morgarath had been defeated because of that brat! For two years, he had believed that the reason for his demise was solely the new Ranger, Halt that had refused to work for the Baron of the Gorlan fief, choosing to commit treason with a red-headed Ranger called Crowley. It was only a few weeks back when he was once again cursing the bloody Ranger that had ruined all his plans, that he had found out that it was the boy, the Caraway Battlemaster’s son, who had caused his demise. The murderer smiled; it was him who had told his Lord this new information and he would get rid of the boy with pleasure. 

But now, locked away at Redmont, it would be nearly impossible to get to the boy. He would be guarded all day, all night, and he wasn’t particularly keen on getting caught. 

A smirk spread across his face. He held up the figurine he was making in his hands and the devilish smile spread even further. With his new accomplices, he would make sure the girls were taken care of for the rest of _their_ lives.

“Beware, because nothing will save you from Algar Dale!” 

Tess was laying on the couch. It was early morning and she was looking up at the ceiling. 

These past few days had been a haze for both her and Lynn. The Rangers usually left them locked in the cabin so they couldn’t leave, going off for days to try and find some traces of the murderer, coming back home and expecting the food to be on the table. 

The girls had quickly discovered that when the Rangers weren’t home, they weren’t expected to sit around and do nothing. There was a whole lot of work needed to be done around the cabin and when Berrigan stayed at home with them, they had to work even more. 

They had even tried to prepare their own bread, failing miserably at the first try but they didn’t give up and continued trying. In these past few days, they had gotten incredibly good at preparing soup or stew, Tess being a disaster child once again, but once Berrigan showed her how it was done, she honestly tried her best. Lynn, on the other hand, had more experience cooking and was able to prepare some easy dishes. 

Each evening, Farrel checked Lynn’s neck. Now that the infection was gone, her wound has been healing faster and yesterday, after a week of constant care (and “friendly” supervision from a certain Ranger), it was time to get out the stitches. 

Tess shivered when she remembered last evening’s events. 

_The girls had just washed the dishes, getting ready for an evening full of Berrigan’s playing. While the Rangers once again found no clues where the murderer might be, they weren’t giving up hope. Sure, Farrel was pretty grouchy but Berrigan was an optimistic person and he wanted to lift up their moods._

_Lynn and Tess had both memorized Sunshine Lady by now, occasionally trying to hum along or even sing (very off-key on Tess’ part and only after getting a scary close-up of Berrigan’s face in theirs), and they were both looking forward to the evening. That day, they had been forced to do a lot of work, and were tired, both physically and mentally._

_“Wait up a second,” Farrel had said suddenly when Berrigan picked up his instrument. The brown-haired Ranger let his hand with guitarra fall as he watched Farrel close the distance between them and the girls. As it was their common reaction by now, Lynn and Tess backed up. When they were alone in the house, or even with just one Ranger present, they had been becoming more confident around them as long as they didn’t talk to them. Now, Farrel stood up with clear intention to go make their lives a living hell again and they did the only thing they could._

_Over the days, Farrel proved not to be as ruthless and soulless as they had assumed but he was still scary, especially if they remembered how he put his knife on Lynn’s neck and threw the other into a tree and caused her a concussion. However, even if he wasn’t as creepy as he had made himself to be, he still refused to call the girls by their names._

_“Girl,” he said and pointed at Lynn. She gulped. By now, she supposed that she should be used to him checking her neck every evening but it was hard to make herself believe that he wouldn’t hurt her. Farrel did save her life twice and Lynn’s willingness to let her wound be checked varied from day to day._

_Slowly, Lynn made her way to Farrel, looking back at Tess from time to time. The Czech girl stood in her place, having learned by now that resisting was futile. She would be taken out of the cabin by Berrigan and she’d prefer to be able to stay there and be present for Lynn’s sake._

_The Dutch girl’s mental health had improved these days, having access to fresh air and food, and also not being separated from Tess had done her a world of good and while she was still having nightmares, at least she didn’t zone out as much as she did in the first days._

_She hadn’t waited for order and obediently pushed her hair out of the way and turned her back to Farrel. The Ranger checked her wound just like in the previous days, but today’s check-up was different._

_“Hmm,” Farrel hummed and the girls shared a scared look. “I think we can remove the stitches.”_

_Lynn paled. She had no idea if it would be painful or if she’d bleed again. She tried to tug but Farrel grasped her by her arm._

_“Sit there,” he indicated the chair and shoved her in that direction. Lynn followed, her cheeks pale and her breathing rising._

_Once seated, she realized that she was shaking like a leaf. Casting a frightened glance at Farrel, she asked in a small voice: “Can Tess hold my hand?”_

_Her name being said, Tess perked up. She looked expectantly at Farrel. The Ranger seemed to think about the possibility that she would interrupt him at work._

_“I won’t do anything, I promise,” Tess said hastily, showing him both her hands to be sure she wasn’t crossing her fingers behind her back. Seeing that, Farrel made the slightest nod with his head and the girl almost squealed happily._

_Having attained permission, she slipped on the chair next to Lynn and took her hand in hers. Her friend had wet eyes, she was almost on the verge of crying. Tess gripped her hand tighter, watching Farrel’s movements. He took two blades that Tess identified as medieval scissors and she paled. It looked only somewhat similar to modern scissors and she had no idea how sharp they were. For Lynn’s sake, she tried to appear normal._

_Berrigan seemed to take pity on poor Lynn._

_“You shouldn’t feel any pain at all. You might feel a slight tugging sensation, though,” he explained, making Lynn feel somewhat better but not by much. She still had that scared look in her eyes, waiting for Farrel to gather his things._

_She felt how he pushed her hair aside and she closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the pain to start. However, there was no pain, she only felt a tug and the cold metal of scissors touching her neck; then a tugging sensation, just as Berrigan had told her, as Farrel removed the stitches._

_When the Ranger was done, he said nothing. Tess had to ask if it was all well to get Lynn to open her eyes again._

Now, Tess was laying on the couch. She and Lynn made a deal after a passionate argument; they would switch the places where they slept. One night, one would sleep on the couch and the other near the fireplace, and the second night they’d switch. Lynn had reluctantly agreed to it, knowing Tess wouldn’t stop pestering her. 

Lynn was still sleeping today and Tess wasn’t going to wake her up. She needed her rest after yesterday’s treatment. 

Instead, Tess was counting. She was counting the days. They had been in the past for more than two weeks now and, according to her calculations, her period should’ve already started. The thing was, it didn’t. Tess wasn’t sure why. She had never been in a relationship and never had sex. She couldn’t not have her period because she was pregnant. That was simply impossible. 

She sighed and stretched herself like a cat on the couch. She’d have to ask Lynn if she had any experience with missing a period, but as far as she was aware, Lynn should’ve had one too. 

Suddenly, a voice behind her said: “Good morning, Tess.” The girl almost fell out of the couch in fright. Damned Rangers and their ability of silent movement! 

“M-morning, Berrigan,” she replied, trying to calm down her rapid breathing. The Ranger gave her quite a scare and he seemed to realize so. 

“Did I scare you, Tess?” he asked. Over the past few days, he had come to like both girls, admiring their dedication to one another and also their ability to remain somewhat calm even under all those strange circumstances (he had a long talk with Farrel about them, and if they really did come from the future, they handled being in the Middle Ages quite well). 

The girl nodded, not trusting herself to keep her voice steady if she spoke out loud. 

“Sorry about that. Old habits die hard,” he apologized, making Tess once again nod her head. The Rangers were used to stealth and it made sense that they would continue to move silently even when out of duty. 

Tess turned her head to the fireplace. It seemed that Lynn was just waking up, moving, and tossing around as she tried to find a warm spot on the floor, finding none. The girl opened her eyes. There was no warmth and that meant that the fire had long died, therefore it was time to wake up and light a new one. Keeping the fire burning had also become one of the girls' job over the past week. They were only allowed to go into the forest under one of the Rangers' supervising glare and gather enough firewood to last them all day. That morning, it was Farrel's turn to go with them while Berrigan would prepare breakfast. 

As Tess nestled her neat pile of wood against her chest, she whispered to Lynn: "I'll need to talk to you about something when we're alone." 

If she had thought she was quiet enough, she was wrong. Farrel did hear the words she mumbled under her breath and raised an eyebrow. However, he didn't say anything. If the girls were brainstorming an escape plan, they were just fools. They should know by now that there was no way they could escape them. 

The Rangers once again left to search for clues. As days went by and there was no new murder, they were even starting to think that the murderer had moved. That he had changed fiefs where he caused his mischief, trying not to get caught. 

Farrel and Berrigan left the girls inside the cabin, saddling up horses and leaving, Nicker and Whistle happily leaving their stalls. 

Going off to the charred remnants of the house, the Rangers were dead set on continuing the investigation, but today, they didn't have to look far. Right next to the burned house, there was a new item that wasn't there the last time they had passed the building. 

Nicker snorted and the Rangers let their horses get them closer to the figure? Was it a figure? 

Berrigan urgently nudged Whistle. Maybe there was some poor villager laying helpless and they had to do all they could to help them out. 

However, what they saw wasn't a villager. It was much, much worse. 

The two Rangers shared a concerned look. 

"Oh dear."

Meanwhile, Lynn and Tess weren't doing any of their assigned work. They had sat on the couch, legs crossed, forgetting the outside world. 

"Lynn, I didn't get my period," Tess started, making her friend look at her. She mouthed one word and Tess shook her head immediately. 

"You know I haven't been with anyone," she said, playing offended. Lynn raised her hands up in defense. 

"Alright, just checking," she defended herself. Of course, pregnancy would be a natural response but that wasn't the case here. 

"To be honest," Lynn continued, "I haven't had mine too."

Tess was already taking a breath to ask the same question that offended her so much a few moments earlier. 

"Don't even think about it. The answer's no." Tess shrugged and didn't say anything. They sat there in silence, thinking about possibilities. 

"Do you think it's possible that we don't need to worry about that now we're in the past?" Tess asked. Now that they knew magic (or at least some form of magic) existed, it could be possible. However, they had been able to bleed and feel physical pain so they should've also been able to get their periods. 

Neither of the girls knew how they would deal with it if it actually started. Modern time with supplies seemed like so long ago now and they had no idea what they would do in the Middle Ages. 

"It's probably stress," Lynn said, shifting into a more comfortable position. "If a girl is going through a lot of stress she doesn't have to get her period," she explained. Tess' eyes brightened in understanding. 

"That's it. Possibly," she replied. She didn't have that much experience in this field, never having to deal with something like that. 

The girls sat in silence for several minutes, looking at their laps. Should they be worried about it or not? Granted, neither of them would know how to take care of things in this time and they would probably have to risk embarrassing themselves in front of the Rangers (well, it wouldn’t have been the first time), but neither of the girls wanted to take care of that. 

“Maybe we should actually do some work before they come back,” Tess suggested when they've been sitting on the couch for a good half an hour. They didn’t know when the Rangers would return but they had to count on them coming back for lunch. In that case, they should’ve already started with the preparations. 

“Yeah, probably. What will it be today? Stew?” Lynn asked, standing up and grinning. It was a genuine smile and Tess was glad to see it. For almost a week, Lynn had been but a shell of herself and now everything was going back to normal. 

The girls had gotten permission from Berrigan to raid his coffee beans once a week and today was the glorious day they’d get to taste coffee after so long. While Lynn had taken upon herself to cut the meat this time (knowing a knife was a dangerous weapon in Tess’ hands), the Czech girl found Berrigan’s stash of coffee beans, put the water to boil, and went to grind the beans. 

“D’you think Farrel has honey here?” she asked, trying to reach the top counters. She had seen Farrel reach them easily (and he was just a bit taller then she was) but her ribcage didn’t allow her to stretch that far. She had to wait until Lynn was done putting the meat into a pot to cook. 

Once the lunch preparations were taken care of, Lynn reached the upper cupboard with ease, finding the honey Farrel kept there. 

Soon, two steaming mugs of coffee were set on the table, the girls each sitting on a chair and enjoying the sheer smell of the warm liquid. 

“It feels like I haven’t had coffee in ages!” Lynn sighed, putting a spoonful of honey into her coffee. 

“You haven’t had it in the Middle Ages, that’s for sure,” Tess replied, stirring her coffee. Lynn kept silent as she took a sip. However, she was watching her friend pointedly. 

“Smartass,” she hissed when she put her mug back on the table. In response, Tess only grinned. Lynn was coming back to herself more and more and she was enjoying every second of their time together, even though they were stranded in the past and kept prisoner. 

After having drunk more than half of her coffee, Lynn raised her hand to her neck. 

“Is your wound bothering you?” Tess asked, her eyebrow raised. The injury should’ve been healed already, right? Otherwise, Farrel wouldn’t remove the stitches. Or maybe Lynn just needed a bath to get out the stinging feeling that was left there. 

Now that she was thinking about it, they both needed a proper bath. During the whole two weeks, they had only washed their faces and the worst dirt, but that was all. Their hair was greasy, they were dirty everywhere and were in need of proper scrub. However, they sincerely doubted that the Rangers would let them shower, not without their supervision and the girls didn’t want to undergo that. No, thank you, they’d rather stay dirty and risk having cockroaches walking on their legs. 

Lynn shook her head. 

“Not really. At least, not anymore. I still feel it, but it’s fine now,” she smiled, leaning back in the chair, being careful so the chair wouldn’t topple over. Lynn seemed happy that she no longer needed to worry about her neck wound. The girl wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she was grateful for Farrel’s care. 

Tess looked into her coffee. That spot in the mug reminded her of home. Oh, home… It seemed so long ago when they last saw a busy city, their families, modern technology… Tears welled up in her eyes. 

Lynn noticed them immediately. She set down her cup and put her hand over Tess’. 

“Tess, what’s wrong?” she asked, concerned. Her friend sobbed and went to wipe the tears off her eyes. 

“I just… I miss home.” That was the moment she started openly crying, making Lynn’s eyes water as well. They were both homesick and wanted nothing more than to see their families and friends. Living in the Middle Ages was hard, especially in the conditions they had to live in. 

“I k-know,” Lynn said, looking at their entwined hands. “I’m homesick too.” 

Tess, being the touch starved being as she was, leaned into her, seeking comfort in the physical touch. Lynn complied and hugged her, silent tears flowing down their cheeks. 

“L-Lynn,” Tess spoke up, half-sobbing. “D’you re-remember how we u-used to r-raid pastry s-shops every s-second weekend?” Lynn smiled slightly. Of course, she did remember. When Tess was assigned as her student buddy, the first thing she did when the girl arrived in Maastricht was to bring her to her favourite pastry shop, the two of them getting a cake and starting to get to know each other. 

“And how I’d t-try to teach you a-archery?” Lynn added. She remembered that Farrel had her bow hidden in here somewhere but despite having cleaned all the rooms numerous times, she hadn’t found it. It crossed her mind that maybe reminiscence of the old good times wasn’t the best method to calm down. 

“I w-wonder what my f-family will t-think. They m-must be worried s-sick,” Tess added, fresh tears making their way into her eyes. After trying to remain strong for both of them, she had finally cracked, showing vulnerability. Lynn stroked her hair. 

“Don’t worry,” she whispered, feeling sadness sting in her chest too. How was her family doing, after she didn’t check in for two weeks? 

“We will find a way to get back home,” she added, trying to believe in what she had just said. However, she had no idea how they got there, therefore, she also had zero thoughts on how to get back, but she had to believe they’d find a way. 

It seemed that Tess found comfort in her words and she calmed down slightly, however, she knew she’d be on the edge the whole day. 

The girls finished their coffees and they’d love nothing more than to sit there, chatting and enjoying the peace, but they did need to start doing other things on their to-do list. While Lynn got a bucket of water and an old cloth to remove any dust that might have settled down on the furniture, Tess took a broom (one of the only things she couldn’t really hurt herself with) and started sweeping the floor. 

While doing so, she started humming softly. It was one of her favourite camping songs, a cover of one of John Denver’s songs. Lynn recognized the melody and a few notes in, she started humming it too. 

The two of them cleaned the whole cabin and, because the Rangers hadn’t yet arrived, they ate lunch. Keeping the meat in the pot, occasionally warming it up, they washed their plates. They had a whole lot of other chores to do but they lounged around on the couch, taking a 20-minute break. 

After five minutes of doing absolutely nothing, they heard a noise outside of the cabin. Lynn jumped out of the couch, running to the window. 

“They’re back!” she turned her head to Tess who scrambled to the pot to have the lunch ready on the table. They had come to know that hungry and grumpy Rangers weren’t the best company out there. 

The latch rattled and the men came inside. Lynn turned to them, a fake smile plastered on her face. 

“The lunch is r…” instantly, she recognized something was wrong. Something was really, really wrong. Neither of the Rangers looked happy and what was that behind Farrel’s back? 

Tess kept quiet, her gaze shifting from one man to the other. She took a step back, sensing bad news. 

Lynn wrinkled her forehead. Her chest was tight and she struggled to take a deep breath but she was curious, too. Slowly, she made a step forward. 

“What is that?” she asked, reaching to Farrel with her hand. Berrigan slowly shook his head at the other Ranger. Farrel hid the thing behind his back where she couldn’t reach it once more, but everyone failed to notice Tess sneaking up behind them (both Rangers had their backs turned to the other girl, focusing on Lynn). 

Tess grabbed onto that thing (it was definitely made of straw) and pulled it from behind Farrel’s back. She looked at the dummy and paled. It looked an awful lot like… 

Her sight shifted to Lynn, her eyes conveying a desperate message. Oh God, the murderer must have seen them that night! 

The dummy was indeed made out of straw with red patches on its “head”. Looking at them, Tess realized that the “hair” was made out of blood. She saw Lynn being as pale as death, trembling. But the worst thing, the absolute disaster that hit Lynn hard down onto her knees was the fact that there was an arrow in the dummy’s chest. 

Many things happened at once. Tess screamed and dropped the figurine. Lynn fell down on the floor, grasping her chest with one hand and trying to take in sharp breaths. Frightened eyes landed on the spot the arrows were stabbed in. 

“It’s m-m-me!” she got out, hyperventilating. She was shaking violently as she grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled. 

Tess, trembling as well but still not descending into a full-on panic attack, crawled to her on the floor, clutching Lynn’s shoulders. She shook her lightly, not wanting to make her more scared than she already was. 

“Lynn!” she yelled into her face. When the girl didn’t react, her eyes still so frighteningly numb, she repeated it, now shouting, “Lynn! Calm breaths, remember to breathe!” Lynn still didn’t react and Tess was now starting to lose it too. Tears made their way down both their faces as Tess tried again.

“Lynn! Breathe with me, in, out, in, out,” she tried to coach her into breathing properly, to stop hyperventilating, to get her back into reality, but nothing was working! Tess closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, feeling nauseous. She let go of Lynn’s shoulders, fighting her own panic attack. Curling up into herself, the nausea worsened and her lunch found itself on the floor. She couldn’t bring Lynn out of her panic attack, she deserved to be drowned in her own anxiety feelings…

If Lynn’s brain was able to recognize anything through the fast breathing and intrusive thoughts, she would’ve notice her best friend trying to, and failing, to help her. However, she was too busy.

 _The murderer is after me… The dummy. Blood. Hair. Arrow. Death. Death. Death._

All kinds of thoughts kept attacking her like there was no tomorrow and Lynn rocked on her place, still hyperventilating, tears dropping down onto the freshly cleaned floor. 

Farrel kicked the dummy aside, urgently coming over to where Lynn sat on the ground. 

“We need to do something, otherwise she might die!” he commented, urgency clear in his voice. It even seemed like he was afraid of her dying. 

The Ranger crouched in front of Lynn and, like Tess, took hold of her shoulders. He didn’t expect the girl to react to his pleas. She didn’t respond to her best friend, why should she react to him, the man who had threatened her, but also saved her life twice? She was always afraid of him. 

Lynn did hazily realize that she should get herself under control, but her brain told her she couldn’t do it alone. She needed support, someone to get her down to reality. So, when she felt hands on her shoulders, she leaped forward to hug the person, thinking it was Tess. 

To say Farrel was surprised would be an understatement. He was astonished. He never counted on the girl embracing him, but reluctantly, he put his arms around her back, entwining them and holding the girl close until her breathing calmed down. 

It seemed that the girl fell unconscious, so the Ranger carried her to the couch, setting her on it. 

Berrigan went to Tess. He didn’t know how to calm her down. She seemed to be in pain and was shaking her head like a madman, so he put his hand on her hair, trying to stop her from moving. 

He was surprised when she reacted to physical contact, pressing her head into his hand, seeking comfort. She was always so reserved, taking a defensive stance every time he came closer, but it seemed that now, she lost all boundaries. 

Maybe, he wondered, if she did depend on contact for comfort, she would appreciate a hug. After all, that was what had calmed her friend down. There was no risk in trying. 

Tess was aware of what the Ranger was doing but she was a viewer of her own actions. She returned the hug and clung to the man for dear life. Seeing Lynn passed out at the couch, breathing regularly, helped her a lot, and she was able to let go after a full three minutes. 

By that time, Farrel had already taken care of the dummy, disposing of it in the stable and getting a bucket of water. Somebody needed to clean that mess on the floor and it sure wouldn’t be him. No, the one who made it should do it. Farrel smirked and made his way back to the cabin. 

Once they made Tess clean the floor again (yuck!), they had let her sit next to Lynn, still shaking. The Rangers made themselves coffee. It was no use trying to get the girls to go with them today. 

The murderer was leaving hints behind, and, by all evidence, he wanted the one called Lynn. Maybe, they could use the girl to catch the guy. But not today. They weren’t so heartless that they would try to wake her up only to drag her into a forest. No, they let them have the afternoon off, napping on the couch, being there for each other. The real adventure would start tomorrow.

A delicious smell reached Lynn’s nose, as well as the sound of meat in a pan, sissing as it was cooked. The girl crouched her nose, smelling the delicious meal. She could hear (and feel) someone sitting next to her but didn’t know who it was. The person held her hand and stroked her hair from time to time. If Lynn had been a bit more awake, she’d have enjoyed the sensation, but her whole body was numb, she couldn’t open her eyes and while she did perceive what was happening around her, she couldn’t muster the strength to get up. 

“C’mon Tess, time to eat,” she heard Berrigan saying. A shadow fell over Lynn’s face as someone, apparently Tess, was guided to the table to have dinner. 

In front of them, there were potatoes, vegetables and meat. Tess didn’t really feel like eating though. After the afternoon’s events, her throat still felt like acid and she had no need to stuff her face with food. She sat down obediently but made no move to reach the cutlery. She felt too sick to do that. 

All of sudden, the girl felt someone’s hand on her shoulder. She looked up, surprised. It was Berrigan. Of course it was Berrigan. Farrel wouldn’t do that. 

“I know it’s hard,” he said, patting her shoulder, “but you need to eat and keep your strength.” Tess looked down at her plate. She knew that, of course. She just didn’t have any motivation, any energy to do that. 

“Do it for Lynn,” Berrigan added when he saw her hesitant expression. The girl looked behind her to see that Lynn was still unconscious on the couch, and slowly grabbed the fork and knife and forced herself to eat.

The Rangers and the Czech girl ate in silence, only asking for salt or pepper. Two times Tess stood up to refill her glass with water and she quickly glanced at the girl on the couch every time. She was still laying there, just like when Tess left her to eat and when she went to get water for the first time. She was unmoving, like a corpse, but Tess could make out the rising and falling rhythm of her chest. 

After the dinner, the men made Tess do the dishes with Berrigan, but she kept looking over her shoulder to see it Lynn was already awake or not yet. She was always quickly nudged by the Ranger who wanted her to focus solely on her work. Really, he knew those girls weren’t disciplined, but Tess could at least concentrate on one thing for five minutes. That wasn’t really possible, so they had to do with something else - limiting her view. She and Berrigan had switched sides, the Ranger shielding her vision. Tess had no choice but to focus on washing the mushy stuff out of the plates.

Farrel walked to Lynn and sat down on the chair. He checked up on her, feeling her pulse and her head, making sure she wasn’t getting a fever or anything like that. After he had calmed her down in the afternoon, Lynn was knocked out cold. Fortunately, she didn’t get a fever and her pulse was stable. Briefly, Farrel contemplated checking her neck wound but he was getting some nasty glares from Tess and decided not to move the girl. 

Lynn did feel a hand touching her, but she didn’t respond to it. She was too tired and felt dizzy. The news that the murderer was clearly after her (and therefore knew she was in the cabin) had paralyzed her. In her sleep, she had all kinds of different thoughts but none of them was good. They all centered around one person - the mysterious man who wanted to kill her.

When Farrel made sure she was okay, he left her alone and Tess took over his place, sitting on the chair with a speed of lightning. She stroked Lynn’s hair gently. 

“Lynn, if you can hear me, please wake up,” she asked her friend, however, Lynn didn’t give any sign she had heard Tess. The reality of the situation came down crashing on Tess and she had to fight tears. She had to be strong. What would Lynn even think if she opened her eyes now and saw her crying? 

Seeing there was still space on the couch, not much, but enough to fit a second person, she left the chair and squeezed herself on the small space, hugging Lynn close to her chest. She had to be alright, she just had to. Tess closed her eyes and buried her face in Lynn’s hair. 

When it was time to sleep, Berrigan tapped Tess on her shoulder. The girl turned her head slightly, squinting her tired eyes at him. What did he want? Didn’t he see that she was comfortable there, just holding Lynn? 

“What do you want?” Tess mumbled sleepily. Even though she would love to close her eyes again, she forced them open as she watched the Ranger come closer. 

Berrigan stopped next to her and she had to strain her neck muscles to look at the man. 

“Don’t you think Lynn would feel more comfortable in a proper bed?” he asked. Tess narrowed her eyes. They weren’t permitted to sleep in a bed. Was this some kind of trick? 

Tess let go of Lynn and sat up on the couch. She still grasped Lynn’s shoulder overprotectively. 

“Why?” she asked. Even though they have started to trust the Rangers more, she was still wary. Berrigan chuckled. 

“Come on, we’re not demons. Your friend is hurt and I’m willing to let her, and you, sleep in my bed for today so she is more comfortable than on some old couch.” For once, Tess had to agree with him. Knowing that Lynn is safe in a proper bed would be nice. 

She shifted on the couch so she could stand up. She honestly thought (a dangerous pastime) that Berrigan would be the one to carry Lynn over to the bedroom, but it was Farrel. Tess took a step forward to Lynn but was stopped by Berrigan. The Ranger shook his head slightly, silently telling her to let Farrel do his work. 

The Caraway Ranger put his arm around Lynn’s shoulder blades and the other under her knees and lifted her up. Berrigan hurried to open the door to his bedroom so Farrel didn’t have to bother with it himself. Tess followed them silently. 

And so, the unconscious girl was moved to the bedroom in which Berrigan had been sleeping. Earlier in the day, the girls had changed the bedsheets, and Farrel laid the girl down. He then turned to Tess.

“You can help her into her nightgown and then also get dressed for the night. For now, you two sleep here.” He said it curtly, and immediately, he walked to the door, closing it behind him, as to give them some privacy, and Tess helped her friend to change. It was difficult since Lynn was unconscious, not to mention pretty heavy. In her state, she was practically dead weight and Tess had to strain her muscles to get her changed. Then she breathed in relief as she also changed into her nightclothes. 

When she was done, she opened the door slightly and bid the Rangers good night. They were still awake, sitting in front of the fireplace and enjoying a cup of coffee. They also bid Tess goodnight and watched as she retreated back into the room. Then, the Rangers started to talk in hushed voices. 

“You think it’s a good idea to let them sleep there?” Berrigan asked. He hoped that he wasn’t talking loudly enough for the girls to hear him, otherwise they could have another breakdown coming. If the murderer knew that they were here (which he obviously knew since they had found his message) and was keeping an eye on the cabin (that, they didn’t know but they had to count that he did), he could break into the room and kill both of them. Farrel shook his head.

“The horses are on that side as well. Trying to get into the room would be too risky; Whistle and Nicker will hear him and warn us.”

Berrigan slowly nodded, thinking of the given answer. It made sense, he thought. Should the horses hear someone approaching, they’d warn them. Nevertheless, the lone murderer probably wouldn’t risk trying to break into a cabin where two Rangers currently resided, that was almost like committing suicide. Berrigan looked at the slightly opened door; Tess had told them that Lynn preferred having them open so she could see in the dark. 

“Will Lynn be okay? I mean, she has been sleeping for quite some time now,” he asked his friend. The girl really was sleeping unusually long and they didn't know what they'd do if she had some permanent damage from her afternoon breakdown. Neither of them knew if she truly didn't get a heart attack and they had no experience or qualification to treat that. Farrel had to admit that it worried him too. He hadn’t seen her awake, but she had frowned in her sleep, so she had to wake up sooner or later. Really, the first time he had seen her frowning in her sleep, he thought she would continue waking up, or that she was at least half-awake. He had seen this behaviour in wild animals. Of course, if Tess was there, she could've explained that Lynn was probably in the REM phase of her sleep, therefore meaning she indeed was a little bit more awake. After all, REM sleep was a remnant of wild instincts for humans. 

“I will see how’s she doing within an hour,” Farrel replied. He drank his last coffee and went to his room to finish a report that would be sent to Crowley. To his chagrin, they hadn't found any leads in the past week and he had to admit that in the report so he was pretty grouchy about it. He didn't like admitting failure.

Berrigan made himself comfortable on the couch, claiming the blanket that fit him perfectly since both he and the piece of fabric were small (don't tell anyone, but he didn't mind being smaller than most men) and within some minutes, he was sleeping.

The only one who stayed awake was Farrel. He was torturing himself with paperwork, and yes, he hated that with a passion. But he knew very well that it needed to be done, so he crouched low in the candlelight and kept dripping the tip of the quill into the ink and writing. 

An hour later, he went to the girls' room to check up on them. Tess opened her eyes when she heard the door squeaking and how a light entered the room. She got up, afraid that it was the murderer, but as soon as her eyes became accustomed to the dim light, she recognized that the newcomer was Farrel. She narrowed her eyes. Of course, she figured that he was there to check up on Lynn but she got a full blow of candlelight into her face and had to blink the sudden sensation out of her eyes. 

“Did she wake up?” Farrel whispered, holding the candle low. She shook her head, then looked at Lynn. 

“No, she’s been sleeping the whole time. Is that bad?” The Ranger saw how her eyes became teary. The girl probably spent the last hour trying not to cry.

The words worried Farrel. The girl should’ve been awake by now. Lynn was laying on her left side, facing the Ranger. He approached the bed, placed the candle on the nightstand, knelt down, and tried to wake her up. 

“Wake up girl, you’ve been sleeping long enough now,” the Ranger said, poking her in the shoulder. The girl held her eyes closed. Tess was watching the two and felt helpless. After a couple of minutes trying his best to wake her up, Farrel sat down on the ground and stared at Lynn’s face. He moved his hand to her neck. There was a small hole at the end of the human jaw. If pressed, it caused pain and a human could be awakened by this. Tess watched him; she would’ve done anything to be able to help wake Lynn up, but she still panicked when she saw Farrel’s hand move to the end of Lynn’s jawbone. She knew about the technique; once, she had taken a first-aid class and experienced this nasty wake-up herself and if it was possible, she didn’t want Lynn to be in pain. Surprisingly, the Ranger withdrew his hand, however, he was getting out of ideas and turned to Tess. Maybe she could help him? After all, the two were friends.

“Any idea how to wake her up?” He asked her, watching as she frowned in concentration.

Tess was sitting against the wall and scratched her chin. Thinking, she mumbled some words Farrel couldn’t understand. Suddenly, she looked up, her eyes wide as she realized something. 

“You could try to…” Then she stopped. She knew it would help, but saying it out loud would be very awkward. Even more so that she would be telling this to a man. However, Tess herself had already tried that with no success. Farrel heard her hesitation, but he needed the girl to wake up, now.

“I could do what?” he asked, his voice low, but not less harsh. Tess blanched (an angry Ranger wasn’t a good Ranger to deal with), then she threw her doubts aside and finished her sentence.

“You could… You could try to stroke her face with your hand. It wakes her up within a few seconds.” She immediately felt stupid. It really did sound awkward but it was the truth.

Farrel stared her in the eyes with a look that could be translated to “are you for real?” But Tess was for real. This time, she didn’t look away but stared back at him. The Ranger sighed as he raised his hand and stroked Lynn’s cheek gently. 

And indeed, she frowned and her eyelids moved too. Encouraged by this, Farrel repeated the movement. Tess came closer when she saw Lynn’s eyelids moving slightly. Was she waking up?

Lynn felt how someone stroked her cheek, but she didn’t want to wake up. Sleeping was nice and kept her away from the danger outside. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to get back to the dream realm. However, the person stroked her again, this time saying she had to wake up. She knew it wasn’t Tess because she had heard ‘girl’. And the only one who called her that was Farrel. 

She opened her eyes, but the light that penetrated her vision was too bright and she closed them quickly. Another stroke on her cheek made her open her eyes again, blinking as to let them get used to the light. First, she didn’t see anything, but then the shadow turned into a person and that person turned into… Farrel. 

“Welcome back, sleepyhead,” he said. She didn’t move but looked in the eyes in front of her. Strange, she thought. They were always so hard, like stone, but now much softer. As if the Ranger truly cared about her well-being. It didn’t last long. As soon as Farrel knew that Lynn wasn’t unconscious anymore, he ordered her to sit up and he let her do some simple tasks, like following his finger with her eyes, tell her name, and how she ended up here. He needed to see if there was something wrong with her. After all, a lot could’ve happened to her body when she had that major panic attack in the afternoon. Lynn did all of the tasks, although not that fast, but that didn’t matter. The most important thing was that she was back in reality. 

“If something happens, you have to warn me, understood?” His tone was hard and Lynn knew that if she tried to hide anything, she’d be in trouble. She nodded, leaning away from the Ranger. 

He looked at Tess, who had come closer and she nodded. Farrel’s order didn’t apply only to Lynn. Both girls had to be responsible and look out for each other. 

“Good,” Farrel said, standing up and dusting off his pants. He took the candle in his hand and left them alone, going to his own bed and trying to get some rest and sleep.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Tess threw her arms around Lynn, tears in her eyes. 

“Lynn!” she cried. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” Lynn smiled and buried her nose in Tess’ nightgown. She was glad too. Who knew what all could’ve happened to Lynn. 

When their hug lasted five minutes already, they split up. The Dutch girl looked down on her clothes and raised her head back up. 

“Tess? Who changed me?” she asked, her face full of worry. Tess chuckled slightly. She would never let the Rangers do that. But, of course, Lynn didn’t know that.

“I did,” she answered, smiling. Before she said it, however, an embarrassed blush appeared on Lynn’s cheeks. The girl hid her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she was laughing. Tess joined in and for a few moments, it felt like home. 

All their laughing was interrupted by sharp knocking on the door. They looked in that direction, alarmed. Farrel stood there, the candle still in his hand, looking angry. 

“There are people who are trying to sleep,” he reprimanded them and both Tess and Lynn tried to look ashamed of themselves. Oh yes, they were sorry (no, they weren’t. In the slightest). 

Farrel disappeared from their view and Tess raised up the blanket so they could slip under it. Lynn smiled and went first, Tess giggled silently and did the same. The girls huddled together and soon, they fell asleep as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! Hessy and Maeve_Lynn here! We hope you keep enjoying the story! We want you to know that your feedback means a lot to us! But, alas, the evil Exam season™ has started some weeks ago and keeps hitting us both with Exams™, so the next chapters will be shorter than usual, but we'll try to do our best to update from time to time on Sundays!  
> Thanks for understanding ^^


	11. Separated and bored? Oh don't worry, here's a fight for your life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It would certainly be a shame if something happened to the girls... >:D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: we got some... nasty graphic-ish wound cleaning and stitching at the beginning of the chapter

Farrel opened his eyes and waited for a moment, just listening to the sounds around him. Something had woken him up, but he didn’t recognize it at first. A few seconds went by and he was almost sure that he had imagined the sounds, but then he heard it again. A soft knock on his door. As if the person behind it was scared of waking him up. He sighed and ran his hands over his face, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Couldn’t they let him rest for one night?! 

It had been three hours since he last checked up on Lynn. Throughout the night, he made it a point to check on the girls regularly, especially on Lynn. The girl was awake when he shoved her shoulder and he did some tests on her. She mumbled and complained softly but she was awake and reacted to his voice and orders. He moaned, irritated when there was another knock, this time harder and more urgent. 

He threw his blanket off him, got on his feet, and opened his door. During all of this, he made minimal noise - unlike Tess who was standing in the corridor, anxiously looking around herself and at him.

“What is it?” the Caraway Ranger asked with a sigh. Tess swallowed nervously, suddenly not sure anymore if it was such a good idea to wake him up. But, she didn’t know what else she could do. She was desperate. The girl couldn’t see the Ranger’s face, but his tired voice made it clear he wasn’t amused to be woken up in the middle of the night. Why, why couldn’t she have gone to Berrigan?

The girl was silent for a while, but he could see in the pale moonlight that got into the cabin that she was shaking. 

“It’s Lynn,” she said after a minute or two, her voice trembling as much as her body. “She’s turning over the whole time and…” 

She took a deep breath and spoke the cursed words. “She’s trying to scratch her neck.” As soon as she said it, she bit her lip, afraid to see the Ranger’s reaction.

This made Farrel frown. He mimicked the girl’s action, biting his lip, thinking about all possible reasons why the girl’s neck was irritated. The wound should have been healed already but if it wasn’t… he shook his head. There was only one possibility and he already knew that neither of the girls would like it. Still deep in thought, he turned around to light up the candle next to his bed, and immediately, Tess feared the worst. 

She had been torn apart by feelings of snitching on her friend, but also not sure about what to do. She too thought that the wound shouldn’t give any pain or itches if it was healed but she wasn’t advanced in this. So, she had to go to Farrel for that, even though she still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being a horrible friend, informing Farrel about Lynn’s problems. However, she was really scared what would happen if, for one, it was something serious, and two, what would Farrel do if he found out in the morning, and worse, that Tess knew about it and said nothing. She didn’t want to risk anything, not after yesterday’s warning.

The face of the Ranger was emotionless and, as silently as only Rangers can, he went to the other room. Berrigan was still sleeping, although, that’s what Tess thought. She tiptoed silently behind Farrel, but she only made it halfway to the bedroom.

“Tess, what’s going on there? Is everything alright?” 

For the second time in two days, she jumped up at least three feet in the air after hearing Berrigan’s voice. The girl clasped her hand on her chest, right over where her heart was. 

“Fujtajbl, you scared me!” she said, making Berrigan raise his eyebrow. Must’ve been some word in her own language, he thought. This past week, he had heard a lot of curses in this weird hard language. At least, he suspected they were curses. He never asked and the girl didn’t risk telling him that.

She approached the Ranger and he sat up on the couch, giving her a place to sit. She refused to sit down, choosing to stand there in the darkness.

“I don’t know,” she replied, looking down at her feet. Or, at least, where she thought her feet were. The living room was too dark to see properly. 

“Is the wound irritating her?” Berrigan asked, looking at her. He could see some kind of silhouette of the girl next to him. Tess nodded, the outline of her hair moving as she did the motion.

“Yes, but that shouldn’t be possible, right? I mean, it’s all healed, clean and stitched together. Farrel wouldn’t take the stitches out if it wasn’t the right moment.” Her voice trembled when a thought crossed her mind: what if there was an infection, but no one had seen it? Meaning that it was now in Lynn’s body, causing problems. Her lower lip shook. What if they found out too late and Lynn would die because she didn’t pay enough attention to her health and wellbeing? 

Time for an answer wasn’t possible as Farrel called the other Ranger. “Berrigan, can you come here for a moment?” 

As the Ranger raised on his feet, avoiding the girl standing there, a second request was added, and it didn’t make Tess feel comfortable at all. “Could you take my bag with you?”

Tess paled when she heard the words. Was it really that bad? Did she really miss some important signs that would tell her that Lynn’s health wasn’t improving? She started trailing after Berrigan, wanting there to be for her friend. However, she was too slow. By the time she came to the door, it was closed and locked. Tess let out a noise very similar to a cat’s meowing and stared at the door like a lost puppy.

In the bedroom, Farrel had looked at Lynn’s neck and had seen something odd. He had touched it and whatever was hidden beneath her skin, it was moving. It could be some kind of fluid, either blood or dirt, but it had to go out, and immediately. Otherwise it could cause a lot of problems.

Lynn was trying to get out of Farrel’s reach after he told her that he would have to do something with it, right there, right now. It wasn’t that bad, it only irritated her a little bit! In other words, it was. Completely. Fine. 

She tried to calm herself down, but the moment that Berrigan closed and locked the door behind him made her doubt her thoughts. A sudden chill ran up her spine and she got a very bad feeling. 

After Berrigan had given the bag to his friend, Farrel searched what he needed. At first, Lynn only saw some salve, but then a bandage, yarn, a needle and… 

To make things even worse, Farrel had taken a smaller knife out of a pocket and placed it on the nightstand, together with the other supplies. With widened eyes, Lynn followed the Ranger’s movements. Her guts clenched and she knew that this wasn’t good.

“Hold her, will you?” Farrel asked, now taking the knife in his right hand. The sharp blade glistened in the candlelight and Lynn got seriously scared. Where was Tess? Where was her friend? She wasn’t doing anything without her.

Lynn jumped off the bed, trying to reach the door before Berrigan could stop her, but there was no way she could escape the Ranger. He lifted her from the ground with his strong arms and half-carried, half-dragged her back to the bed. Lynn struggled along the way, not wanting to experience more pain. However, Berrigan was stronger than she was and he pressed her down on the bed. Lynn still struggled, but he held her arms on her back and put her hair aside, giving Farrel access to her neck. That promptly prevented Lynn from moving at all. The girl’s eyes filled with tears when she realized that she was grounded.

“No, please!” the poor girl screamed, tears falling down her cheek. She didn’t like this at all. It reminded her too much of the moment when Farrel had put a knife to her throat. She desperately tried to get out of the situation, but there was no way out. 

Hearing her friend screaming, Tess shot up to her feet from where she was sitting on the ground and banged on the door, yelling that if they hurt Lynn, they’d experience very slow and painful death. The Rangers didn’t care about her threats (she would never carry them out anyway) and Farrel was now very close, almost laying the knife on her healed wound. Lynn shivered. It brought her unpleasant memories that she was working on repressing.

“W-why?” Lynn asked through her tears. She didn’t understand what was wrong. Yes, it did feel a bit odd, but she had thought it was normal. Why did she have to be cut open once again? 

“That wound isn’t healing as it should be, meaning that you did get some kind of infection,” Farrel responded, his eyes locked on hers. That was it. She was going to die because she hadn’t told him in time. Lynn felt as though this was the moment that was so often described in movies, how her life should flash in front of her eyes, but nothing like that happened. Instead, Farrel continued, “The only way to make sure it won’t spread any further…” 

He didn’t finish his sentence, but placed the knife on her neck and cut the wound open with the speed of lightning. Lynn screamed out in agony, feeling warm blood on her skin. It stung, God, it stung, hurt, hurt, hurt, it hurt like hell, she felt her own tears flow down her face, just like the blood, the blood… First drops fell on an old towel Farrel had placed under her head to prevent the sheets from getting dirty, staining it with dark red spots. The bangs on the door became louder and louder until the Ranger had enough of it.

“QUIT THIS NONSENSE!” he shouted, making both of the girls stop. Lynn whimpered slightly, tears still falling down on the sheets. With all the noise, the Ranger couldn’t focus on his work. The loud bangs on the door slowly subsided (and good thing, because even though the cut into Lynn’s neck wasn’t deep, she still could’ve lost a lot of blood) and Lynn’s whimpers became more silent. When they stayed silent for a while, he continued in a softer voice. “It’s a small procedure, nothing to worry about, but I can’t do it properly with two screaming idiots around. So shut up and let me take care of it!”

Tess puffed her cheeks when she heard him. _Screaming idiots?!_ How dare he? She was trying to be there for her friend when they so rudely locked her out of the room! She bit back a sob. How dare they? She just…. She just wanted to be with Lynn, was it so much to ask? Tess buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed quietly, feeling betrayed and useless. She was shaking on her legs, feeling like she might collapse any second, but did obey the Ranger. She sat down on the couch, her knees up, put her chin on them, and stared at the closed door, helpless tears wetting the fabric of her nightshirt.

Lynn was doing her best not to move, but it wasn’t that easy at all. Not with how violently she was shaking. Really, she did try not to, but all fear and pain had prevented her from laying there unmoving. She felt how the grip on her shoulders was loosened and that Berrigan placed one hand on her head, hoping it would calm the girl down a bit. Farrel noticed it, raised an eyebrow but remained silent, and went on with the treatment. 

After having cut the healed wound open, the blood came out, dripping down Lynn’s neck, onto her clothes and the towel, and the hump disappeared. 

Farrel hummed as he watched the blood flow out. He had already thought this could’ve been the cause of Lynn’s irritation, but he wasn’t sure. Some people didn’t have anything to show that the infection had spread further into their bodies, others, like Lynn, got a hump filled with blood. It wasn’t that hard to remove it, but it was necessary. Otherwise, Lynn could get serious problems, and, if left unattended, she could eventually die from the continued infection.

Lynn obediently waited until the Ranger was done with the knife, cleaning her wound. She closed her eyes when the man picked up the needle with the yarn, remembering the first time she was stitched up and, more importantly, the hellish pain that she had experienced back then. 

Today, the pain was even worse. Lynn wasn’t prepared for such a tremendous experience. She bit down hard when the needle went in her skin for the first time. It hurt, tears fell down on the bedsheets. Biting down, Lynn had bit her tongue and felt the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. 

She took a deep breath every time the needle went in her flesh. She kept her eyes tightly closed, tears flowing out from behind her closed eyelids, clenching her teeth so she wouldn’t yelp at the sharp pain every time. Luckily, this wound only took a couple of stitches. When Farrel was finished piercing her skin, she was ordered to sit up so he could apply the salve and bandage her neck. Lynn didn’t want to. The pressure on her back and head disappeared but she felt like doing nothing, only setting her head on the bedsheets and crying more. It still hurt, stung like a bee and she was tired. 

However, she heard a low growl behind her, and Berrigan helped her get up, careful not to touch her neck as not to rip the fresh stitches. Lynn pulled her hair to the side and sat with her back to Farrel. 

Grumbling, the Ranger applied the weird-smelling salve and bandaged her neck so it looked like she wore a white collar. Then, he let her go. Lynn raised her hand to feel the bandage. She didn’t like it. Farrel made it pretty tight and she had difficulties breathing, not much, but it was still uncomfortable.

Farrel took the candle and his supplies, and prepared to take his leave but stopped at the last moment. Turning around in the doorway, he looked at her and, with a nice smile (read: creepily terrifying smile), he asked: “You know the rules, don’t you, girl?” 

She swallowed, feeling her hands where she was touching the bandage. “Yes, Farrel: no scratching,” she said obediently. She knew she couldn’t, otherwise the next time, she could really be in trouble. But it stung and itched and Lynn forced herself to lower her hand. 

When Farrel made sure she got the hint, both Rangers left the room, Farrel going back to his bedroom to finally get some hours of uninterrupted sleep and Berrigan going to the couch.

Seeing the door open, Tess’ head shot up. Was it finally the end? Of Lynn’s suffering? She scrambled out of the couch, tripping on her way and almost running head-first into a wall., Tess ran to her friend and sat next to her, reaching out to her, hoping to hold her hand and saying kind words to calm her down. Lynn was still shaking and tears were drying up on her face, leaving visible trails behind. 

Lynn was tired and sick of everything. Why couldn’t she have a normal life? Why was she stuck in the past with Tess? Why did she have to have that cut? She was angry for going to that stupid fair, buying those cursed bracelets and she was also angry at herself. Fresh, hot tears slid down her face. This was all stupid, it had to be a dream, all of it, they would wake up in their hotel room in London any moment now. Deep down, she knew this was reality. They were stuck there, she had a damned cut on her neck, was hunted down by a murderer and she just wanted to go home. 

Tess reached out her hand, but Lynn refused to take it, shaking her head. With her eyes closed, she didn’t see the hurt expression that crossed her friend’s face.

“Please, don’t Tess. I-” Lynn broke down and covered her face under the blanket. 

The Czech girl looked down at her hand. She didn’t understand. Did she do something wrong? Was Lynn mad that she snitched on her and told Farrel about her never-ending attempts to scratch the wound?

She shook her head. Lynn’s rejection hurt. She was her only friend, and to be pushed away so silently, without having known the reason, it hurt her feelings. Tess felt her chest tighten as a not-so-unexpected pain started. The first tear made its way down her cheek and she got up and stepped in the bed. However, she didn’t face her friend. Instead, she slept with her back to Lynn’s back, her head laying on wet bedsheets as she stained them with tears, suppressing sobs and trying not to shake so much.

From the other side of the bed, Lynn couldn’t help but feel guilty. As much as Tess tried to be quiet, she knew her friend was crying. But goddamn, she was in pain too. Even more than Tess. Lynn did regret pushing her friend away but she needed a little time to come to terms that her life was such a pain. Eventually, she fell asleep, the only thing she felt being the pain in her neck. 

In the last hours before sunrise, Lynn turned around and gently nudged Tess’ shoulder. The girl mumbled something incomprehensible and curled up on herself. 

“Tessie? Are you asleep?” Lynn whispered. She hoped her friend would answer, that she didn’t hurt her feelings that much she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her. 

“I was, but not anymore,” Tess whispered back sleepily. She yawned.

The girl switched sides as well and faced her friend. They could vaguely see each other, and Lynn stretched out her hand. To her relief, Tess placed hers on top of it. In the dim light, she could see dried tear marks on her face. Her gaze was sleepy but curious and she waited for what Lynn had to say.

“I’m sorry Tess, I didn’t want to be that mean earlier on. It was just… I don’t know. I’m just an idiot who gets herself in trouble all the time and-” Tess covered her mouth with her free hand in shock. 

“Don’t say that Lynn, it’s not your fault. Look, we ended up here together and we will leave together, you hear me? And don’t say you’re an idiot. That’s my job.” Both of the girls smirked and Lynn squeezed her friend’s hand hard. It offered her comfort, just like in the past two weeks when she only had Tess for company. 

“Díky sestra,” she said, before falling asleep. Tess smiled. Lynn’s pronunciation was adorable. She watched her friend breathe for a few seconds before she also closed her eyes and tried to spend the last hours of the night resting.

The next morning, everyone woke up in silence. Lynn felt miserable; her shoulders ached, probably from how the Rangers pressed them down to take care of the neck wound, and as a result, her back hurt too. Her neck itched like hell, but, with enormous effort, she kept herself from scratching it. Last time, Farrel punished her by slapping her hands, but she didn’t want to know what it would be this time, or even experience it. So she bit down the need to scratch it and let her hands lay against her body. 

She wanted to wake Tess, but noticed that the girl wasn’t next to her anymore. Lynn got a sudden feeling of panic before she heard a light conversation from the living room and assumed that everything was alright. She shrugged and got out of bed, going all the way to the door and closing it (giving the Rangers in the living room a clear sign she was awake), she got her clothes from a chair (thank God Tess put them there) and dressed up. Once decent, she went to the living room. 

“Good morning,” she greeted them. Farrel and Berrigan looked at her, the former focusing more on her neck to see if the bandage stayed intact.

“Morning,” they chorused together. Lynn nodded and went to the kitchen part of the room.

It was her turn to make breakfast that morning. After the Rangers had learned that she was capable of preparing simple dishes in the mornings, they left it to her, giving her also a list of chores to do that day. When she put the list on the counter, Farrel silently left the room, going back to the report he had to finish. After some minutes, Berrigan trailed after him, probably to discuss said report and what they should write in it.

“I always thought Rangers didn’t have any maids, cleaning and cooking for them,” Lynn mumbled as she took the plates and cutlery out of their place and laid them down on the table. 

The girl picked up some wood, put it in the stove, and waited until the flames were doing their work, consuming the wood and supplying the whole room with their warmth. Yawning, Lynn took a pan, placed it on the pit, and added some butter. Half asleep, she cracked two eggs and, in the meantime, baked some bacon in another pan. Her neck itched a lot but with work to focus on, she didn’t have time to even think about scratching it.

The smell of eggs and bacon filled the room and soon, Farrel opened his bedroom door and headed to the stable. He didn’t say a word when he passed Lynn, but that was normal. She continued preparing breakfast. Berrigan followed soon, rubbing his eyes. He got to the table and sat down, just as the coffee was brewed. As if he could smell it, Farrel entered the cabin and made himself comfortable as well, waiting for his breakfast and coffee. 

Lynn got out four plates. Where was Tess? Shouldn’t she come for breakfast? Nevertheless, seeing the Rangers’ impatient glances, she hurried to serve the food, not wanting to get in trouble. Once done, she sat down at the table too, waiting for Tess. 

As they consumed their breakfast, Lynn wondered where Tess could be, not seeing her friend around. Of course, the Rangers noticed her searching look. 

“She’s gathering new water for the rain barrel,” Farrel said after seeing the confusion on Lynn’s face. 

“And mucking out the stalls,” Berrigan added happily. The girl nodded. Why didn’t she think of that? The men always seemed to make up new creative jobs for them. She shut up and waited for Tess to come back so she could start making their breakfast. 

A couple of minutes later, the front door opened and Tess came in, sweat glistening on her forehead, her hair sticking to her face. It was a nice day outside and she felt like she had just run a marathon. The girl looked in the kitchen’s direction. 

Seeing Lynn awake and on her feet, a smile appeared on her face. 

“Hey,” she beamed at her. Even though she was sweaty and looked exhausted, she still gave her the biggest, genuine smile she got. Walking briskly over, she took two glasses, filled them with water (as they weren’t permitted to drink coffee), and walked to Lynn, offering her the beverage. 

“Could you make another one?” Lynn asked, pointing at the pot with water that was used for the Rangers’ favourite drink. She didn’t need to ask the men if they wanted another cup; she knew their morning routine by heart now. Tess nodded, wiped her sweaty hands on her pants and got to grinding the coffee beans.

The two men brought their dishes to the sink, not even asking them to wash them. By now, the girls knew they had to do it anyway. It was, after all, the prisoners’ job. Tess took to it, cleaning and drying the plates so they could have them for their own breakfast. 

Lynn had cracked two new eggs, as well as she got some more bacon and put it on the pan to make their food. She was hungry but she also experienced slight nausea after last night whenever she looked at food. Smiling sadly, she shook her head. There was no time to be concerned over this. A mission awaited them and they should be ready for it. 

As soon as the breakfast was ready, Lynn put it on the dried plates Tess prepared. The Rangers had left them some bread and they ripped of slices, putting their eggs and bacon on it. Farrel and Berrigan went to the stables and that gave the girls some relief. They could enjoy the warm food in peace without being looked at the whole time.

Sitting down, Lynn once again felt slight nausea and her resolve to eat vanished into thin air.

“Eat,” Tess nudged her. Sighing, Lynn looked down at her plate, grabbed a wooden spoon, and started to eat.

However, they had to hurry up a bit since they would go outside together with the Rangers. All four of them were getting ready (some more than others) to end the murderer’s reign of terror. When they were finished with their breakfast, Tess and Lynn quickly washed the dishes and stored them in the right place. 

Just as they were done, the front door opened and Berrigan beckoned them to come outside. The girls looked at each other uneasily; they knew what was coming, but followed nonetheless. The Ranger closed and locked the door behind them and, after a soft push in their backs, the friends were taken into the forest. 

Looking back at the cabin, Tess shook. They were leaving the safety that the house provided them with, going off into the unknown. Going into a dark forest where the murderer could wait for them to be vulnerable enough to deliver the killing blow. 

Thus, the girls were pretty reluctant to leave safety. They were scared for their lives, having been given a clear sign that the man was after them, and Lynn in particular. They tried to keep close to the Rangers who could protect them.

“Let’s see if we can make an end to this,” Farrel said, as they walked on the main road. The sand crunched beneath their simple shoes and they kept a relaxed pace. They didn’t hurry anywhere; they knew the murderer would be the one to track them down.

They had been walking for half an hour already when Farrel stopped at a crossroads. He told the girls to wait where they were standing and beckoned Berrigan to come a few feet away from them. They discussed their plan in hushed voices one last time, glancing at the girls from time to time. Of course, their subtle looks didn’t go unnoticed by the two young women.

“Lynn, I don’t like the way they look at us. As if they plan to use... us for their plan,” Tess whispered. Just like when stuck in the cell at Castle Araluen, she got very strong “it’s a trap” vibes. Her friend slowly nodded, not losing track of the Rangers. The men were still talking and it was becoming terrifying. What were they talking about?

“I have that same feeling Tess, and how much I would like to tell you it’s not true, I think you’re right,” Lynn whispered back, realizing that the two of them were talking in the same low voices as the Rangers did. 

The men stopped talking and turned to face them. Lynn gulped. The Rangers walked to them and, as an instant reaction, they huddled together, Tess in front of Lynn, not wanting to be separated, because, well, everyone could deduce they wanted to get them apart. They were at a crossroads, for God’s sake! Even the biggest idiot would deduce that one group had to go one way and the other should take the second path. 

Farrel roughly pushed Tess aside and grabbed Lynn’s arm, pulling her to the left road. Tess, on the other hand, was grasped by her arm by Berrigan and pulled to the right road. The girls reached out with their free arms, desperately trying to hold each other but they only managed to brush their fingers together before the Rangers dragged them away.

Neither of them wanted to go, fearing that this might be the last moment they would see each other. Sure, the Rangers had all their weapons with them, but what if there was an ambush? Would they be prepared and prevent the girls, Lynn in particular, from being hurt or worse, killed? Or wouldn’t they count on it and get surprised? 

Somehow, Lynn managed to get out of Farrel's grip, twisting her arm so she could yank it to herself and run to her friend, throwing her arms around her neck. They lost balance and had to take a few steps sideways so they wouldn't both fall down. Berrigan released Tess’ arm as well and the girl returned the hug.

The Rangers looked at each other, Farrel with an annoyed expression, Berrigan shook his head. The bond these two shared was indeed pretty strong and it would be a shame if one of them were to get hurt on today's adventure. Or even killed. The Rangers knew the other would sacrifice herself for the other.

However, they allowed the girls to hug for a minute or so. They weren't in any hurry to get separated. Both knew very well that they might never see each other again if something went terribly wrong.

"Please, be careful Tessie and listen to Berrigan,” Lynn said, burying her head in Tess' shoulder for the last snuggle. Then, she looked up and met the Ranger’s gaze. For a second, she and Berrigan stared at each other, a silent request written in her eyes and Berrigan nodded slightly; he would protect her friend no matter what. 

Lynn froze up a bit when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Afraid, she turned her head, expecting Farrel to have his infamous knife. For the sake of her health, he didn’t, but she still didn’t want to risk anything, so she let go of Tess. Grumbling, she stood up. She didn’t want to leave her friend. 

Tess was left there standing as Farrel grabbed Lynn’s hand. Her friend let herself be dragged away but not before she gave her one last sad look. Honestly, she seemed so unhappy that Tess almost forgot what they were doing before the hug. Now, though, it was coming back and she couldn’t help but wonder if Lynn was preparing for a potential ambush. Was she getting ready for the option of never coming back? Tess’ chest tightened as she realized that it was certainly possible. And it didn’t have to be Lynn who didn’t return. It could very well be her too.

Her heart sank as she fought this sudden anxiety. She had something on her mind.

Before Lynn and Farrel went out of sight, Tess took a deep breath and called after the Ranger, making the man stop and look over his shoulder. 

Once more taking a deep breath as to not let Lynn know how much she was scared, she called, “Make sure she will be okay, please?” 

Farrel grinned, an unusual sight for the Ranger. 

“Of course.” 

Berrigan nudged Tess slightly and each of the two groups went on their way, taking different roads. Eventually, the girls lost sight of the other as they walked further into the forest, trailing behind the only people who could protect them.

Tess and Berrigan walked behind each other, not saying a word. The Ranger nudged her to go in front of him, acting as bait while he was prepared for any potential ambush. From time to time, Tess anxiously looked over her shoulder, making sure that the Ranger was still there. 

Although she wasn’t sure what to think of him, she was glad that he was there with her. Tess didn’t like going alone into the forest, not in the 21st century, and certainly not now when there was a maniacal murderer waiting for them. At least she wasn’t as alone as her mind told her she was. Berrigan’s steps were almost unhearable, and therefore it was no wonder that she felt alone. Without Lynn, she felt so alone. The ever-present fight she had in her was gone, replaced by a feeling of sadness and emptiness.

Sure, Berrigan did a good job protecting her, but she was more than happy that the Ranger was on her side. At least, in some kind of way. She had seen how scarily precise he could be with his knives. She shivered as she remembered when he pinned her to a tree with the smaller weapon. 

At one point, she noticed that Berrigan started to pay more attention to their surroundings, scanning the area, and making sure everything was alright. Seeing his actions and careful looks, Tess got an uneasy feeling of anxiety, that something was wrong. She didn’t understand at first, but as soon as she also looked around, she noticed that this could be a perfect place for… 

As soon as she realized that, the girl started to pay more attention to unnatural sounds and movements. She had always been jumpy at the slightest sign of potential danger and now, her fear and weariness had been multiplied at least by 100. 

Behind them, they could hear the bushes rustling. Immediately, Tess feared the worst and shortened the distance between her and Berrigan. She was almost clinging to his arm when one rational thought penetrated her mind. Berrigan needed his arms to keep them both safe. She stayed close to him until she felt a slight nudge in her back. Pouting, she turned her head to look at him. 

“Don’t do that,” he said while pushing her forward. “Act as if you think it’s a rabbit; nothing to worry about.” 

Tess grunted. She didn’t like this one bit but complied. With some luck, she wouldn’t end up a pincushion. 

Tess enlarged the space between them again, hoping no one saw the shaking of her legs. It was hard imagining a potential killer as a rabbit. Of course, if there was a possible attacker hidden in the bushes. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to go forward and look disinterested. 

The rustling stopped and she let go of the breath she was holding. At that moment, she heard a high swooshing sound. A crossbow arrow was fired and ended up in the tree next to her, mere centimeters from her face. In the first second, her brain couldn’t even register what happened. In the second, she screamed and fell down on the ground, covering her head with her arms. This was it. She was nearing the end of her life. Trembling, she looked up, making sure her arms protected her neck. 

As fast as only a Ranger can, Berrigan turned around to face the attacker, but he couldn’t see him. Around him were only bushes and he had no idea where the assaulter could be hiding unless he moved again. He scanned the whole area with his eyes repeatedly, finding no one.

“Damn it, where is he?” he growled while taking an arrow out of his quiver, nocking it on the bowstring, ready to shoot when the attacker appeared again. 

At that exact moment, Tess decided that she didn’t want to be stepped on by Berrigan and attempted to crawl backwards to, from her point of view, safety. 

_Tjok!_

The second arrow ended up in the ground, right where her head had been a few seconds ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued... What an evil cliffhanger!


	12. Getting bored of having no pain? Here's some more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello girls, welcome to Fighting for your life chapter edition, we would greatly appreciate it if you left a positive review for this edition

Lynn wasn’t feeling well, walking all alone on the road. As soon as they split from Tess and Berrigan, Farrel had told her he would be around to protect her from any harm, but she wished he was walking behind her. She knew that the Ranger was following her, she knew it, but there was still a small voice in her head telling her that he had left her there. So far, Lynn managed to think of happy thoughts. Farrel needed to catch this murderer; of course, he had to go somewhere behind or next to her in the bushes. However, she couldn’t see him, and that made her nervous. She felt really insecure, unprotected out in the open, but tried to act as normal as she could. It was just scary to walk around, not knowing if she would be attacked or not. The girl did hold her head proudly but, from time to time, she cautiously looked around herself, unsure.

From his hiding place in the bushes, Farrel saw how the girl was slowing down and whistled in a warning. It was a natural sound any bird could make, but distinctive enough that Lynn knew exactly who it was. After all, he showed her the sound right after they left the remaining two members of their team. 

Lynn heard the sharp tone and continued at a faster pace. However, she couldn’t maintain it for long; her knee was hurting and she needed a place to sit down and let it relax for a while. She looked around for a suitable space and pointed at her knee, silently requesting if she could take a break. Her knee was truly starting to irritate her and she knew that if she continued for too long, she’d have problems just walking. If they encountered the bad guys then, she would have little to no chance to escape.

However, another whistle sounded from behind her and she knew she had to continue walking without stopping for a quick break. Lynn sighed and walked further, ignoring the pain. Trying to distract herself from the sharp stabbing pain, she thought about Tess and Berrigan and how they were doing. She hoped that they were doing well. She couldn’t even finish the thought when she heard a distant scream. Lynn froze in her tracks. That voice… that was Tess, definitely. She would recognize her terrified scream anywhere. She had heard it enough whenever Tess was scared by something. But that meant… Her throat had gone dry when she realized.

“Tess is in danger!” she choked out, worry for her friend consuming her thoughts. Turning on her heel, she wanted to run back the way she came, to help Tess somehow, ignoring her hurting knee. She was stopped by Farrel who came out of the bushes, holding his bow in a relaxed grip. 

“Do you think you can help her now if you run blindly into the danger?” he chastised her, holding his arm in her way, effectively stopping the girl. Lynn frowned. Farrel was right, if she barged in now, it would do more harm than good. 

She stopped, hating how useless she was. Tess was in danger and she was stuck here. On the road. In safety. 

“Berrigan will protect her,” Farrel said in a confident tone. Lynn sadly nodded. She needed to believe in Berrigan’s abilities. He was a capable Ranger, he would protect Tess. 

Sighing, she continued walking while Farrel slid back into the low shrubbery, following her. Lynn didn’t focus on anything, the scream of her friend resonating in her mind. She got so lost in her thoughts that she couldn’t even see where she was going. 

“We can take a small break up there,” she suddenly heard a voice behind her saying. Surprised that he caught her lost in her own world, she cursed Farrel for doing that; she didn’t like it when people sneaked up on her and scared her. 

“What? I thought you liked that, given the fact you tease your friend all the time,” he remarked, smirking. The girl didn’t reply out loud but mumbled something in her own language instead. Farrel frowned (he never liked the girls talking in languages he couldn’t understand), but didn’t say anything. 

Lynn looked in front of her. Farrel pointed out a place just a couple of meters further ahead. Walking there, Lynn happily sat down on some flat stones that were next to the road, releasing the tension in her knee. She sighed in relief. Oh yes, a small break was just the thing her damn limb needed. She didn’t know why it hurt all of sudden, they had just walked! True, they were walking pretty quickly and she attempted to run one time, but still, she angrily clenched her hand into a fist. 

Farrel noticed it too. Silently, he approached her and sat down on another rock.

“It’s not working as it should,” he said nonchalantly. The girl growled. No shit, Sherlock.

“I assume cutting it off with your battleaxe wouldn’t be an option?” She asked, a bitter tone slipping into her voice. 

Surprised to hear that, Farrel looked at her. “Are you for real?” he asked. 

Lynn shook her head. “No, of course not. Stitching my neck was already hell, so I don’t want to endure you cutting off my leg ànd get it stitched together.” She paused for a moment before saying something else. “Besides, that would mean you’d have to deal with us longer and, not to forget, more sleepless nights.” She grinned slightly. She didn’t know why, but she felt at ease being with Farrel today. Also, her teasing mood had kicked in and she wanted to know just how far she could go before Farrel got mad. 

The Ranger could clearly hear the sarcasm in her voice but didn’t react harshly. In fact, he almost didn’t react at all. He just stood up, grabbed his bow, and continued walking. 

Lynn wanted to follow him, hurrying to get back to her feet but was ordered to sit down. Confused, she fell down on the stone. 

“A-are you leaving me all a-alone?” she stuttered, suddenly afraid she had gone too far with bickering and provoking the man. Farrel smirked. 

“Yes, I leave you all alone.” After saying that, he vanished into thin air, thanks to his Ranger cloak. Lynn gulped. There was only one murderer and he had gone after Tess, but she still felt nervous and couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong...

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Berrigan had to deal with his attacker. After having an arrow almost hit her head, Tess was in a state of panic and had a hard time to calm down. She still attempted to crawl backwards to get to some kind of safety, breathing hard and feeling a full panic attack approaching rapidly and no matter how many times she tried to do the breathing techniques she was taught to do, nothing helped her. 

At one moment, Berrigan risked focusing on her, knelt down, and shoved her shoulder. 

“Tess, I need you to go back to the cabin, now!” But the girl shook her head, afraid that she would get shot the moment she stood up. She didn’t think she could run in her current state. The pain on her chest became too much to handle and she always had to crouch down for several minutes until it passed. Right now, there was no time for that. She would get hurt either way, she was sure of that. Whether she started running or stayed on the ground, the result would be the same. 

Berrigan had to think of something else to get the girl on her feet. She seemed to be frozen in fear, unable to move. He remembered one of Farrel’s favourite convincing methods - Lynn. Shoving the girl again, he said urgently: “Tess, what to think of Lynn? If he found us here, he will find Lynn and Farrel as well! If we get away now, we can warn them on time.” 

These words seemed to make an impact on the Czech girl and she hurried to get on her feet, looking around quickly and running back at the highest speed possible. 

She was nearing a turn of the road when, out of nowhere, a man jumped out of the bushes, crashing into her and sending crashing to the ground. Tess yelped as they rolled in the dirt, trying to push the man off her. She failed and only gasped as the wind got knocked out of her lungs. She looked up at her attacker with scared eyes, laying on her back, the man sitting on the top of her, blocking her way to freedom.

Berrigan looked her way when he heard her yelp, his bow at ready. Seeing Tess struggling with the man, he thought it was the assailant, so the Ranger aimed at him, but before he could even do anything, another arrow made him realise that there were at least two attackers. 

The Ranger frowned. Since Gilan reported only seeing one man, the murderer, they had naturally gone with his evidence and assumed there was only one man. But now, there were more, which meant they could go very well after Lynn and Farrel, too. Or, Berrigan realized with growing horror, Tess had screamed so loudly that they had heard her and thought they were safe. He had to go warn them as soon as possible!

He drew his arrow, aimed at the place from where the second arrow came, and let go. He was pretty confident that the attacker was hiding there somewhere and since the Ranger was quick, a curse from his right told him that he had at least hit the man. No new arrows were flying around their ears anymore. Now to get rid of the man that was trying to kill Tess. Berrigan saw them fight on the ground with the girl still trapped beneath the man, struggling to get free. 

Tess was having a hard time pushing the man off her. He was sitting on her chest, making it hard to breathe and she couldn’t freely move her arms or legs. However, her basic survival instincts kicked in and she tried, she was fighting for her life.

He tried to choke her, almost got his hands around her neck and, Tess knew, that would be the end of her if he succeeded. She had to get out, quickly. Seeing her attacker’s unprotected neck, she remembered a dangerous technique that was deadly if used correctly. It was a move where she would shoot out with her hand like a snake after her prey - in this case, the man’s neck. Tess had always practiced this only on her or her opponent’s arms but she knew that she could push the man’s Adam’s apple in and cause him to suffocate. She didn’t particularly like this idea, but with her limited movement, it was the best she could do. 

Swinging her whole arm forwards, flying towards his neck, she also pushed her body forwards to give strength to her attack. 

She would've succeeded if the man didn't forget about trying to choke her. He caught her hand in his, smirking at her. Tess narrowed her eyes filled with fear. She could feel his breath on her face. Disgusting. The girl knew her left arm was held in place by the man, but her right wasn't. She lunged and punched him in the face several times. She didn’t care anymore if she hurt him badly, her survival instinct just kept telling her to get away. 

“You little rat,” the man roared, evading her next try to punch him, reaching for his dagger to end that stupid girl’s life. He knew that he was ordered to take her in alive (preferably), but it didn’t matter that much, he thought. Being killed now or after she had given his boss the information he needed, she would end up being dead anyway. What a fitting end to an annoying little bitch. 

Tess’ eyes had widened in fear. A dagger, he had a fucking dagger! She started squirming under him. She only partially knew how to defend herself against a knife, but here, she was absolutely dead if she didn’t do something. The girl stretched her muscles and bent her knee, managing to hit the man’s elbow. She hissed; the elbow was the body’s sharpest place, and her knee resonated from the blow. However, she had succeeded in her main goal. With the hit, the man’s arm shot forward, resonating just like her knee, and he dropped the dagger. His weapon flew a few feet above Tess’ head and its blade sunk into the ground next to the bushes.

Berrigan saw it all, from the moment the man took out his dagger up until Tess forced him to drop it, but he couldn’t shoot and help the girl as long as he was that close to her. He’d be risking injuring Tess too, and he had grown quite fond of her. Additionally, they still needed the girls to help them catch these guys.

“Kick him off you!” he shouted. Tess didn’t pay any attention to him, she was focusing on saving herself. If Berrigan was so clever, why didn’t he come there and help her physically instead of just waiting in a distance for a good shot? Why? Couldn’t he see that she needed help, right there and now?

Grunting, Tess hit the man on his jaw one more time. She knew it was a great punch the moment her fist collided with the man’s face. If she wasn’t full of adrenaline, she might have shouted in joy. She had landed a hit and it made the man feel dizzy. Because of this, he made a fatal mistake: he got up. Tess had been waiting for a vulnerable moment. It was enough to kick him away. She bent her legs as much as she could, setting her feet on the man’s chest, then used all her strength to push him away from her. 

The second her attacker was in a sufficient distance, Berrigan shot an arrow straight through his heart, making the man grunt and drop dead on the ground. 

Breathing hard, Tess set her hands on the ground and stood up, her whole body shaking. She had never seen someone die from such a close distance, and, combined with the whole fight, she was shaken to the bone. However, she didn’t have time to dwell on her own shock. There were more bad guys than they anticipated and Lynn and Farrel were still out there, blissfully unaware. The adrenaline that threatened to get out of her system spiked up again and she looked around. They had to warn them, quickly! 

The girl leaned down to take the dagger that was buried in the dirt, but Berrigan stopped her. He put the bow in her way, making her look at him. 

“There’s no time for that! We need to hurry back to the cabin!” he said in an urgent tone and Tess nodded in understanding. She let the dagger be and the two of them ran to the clearance where the cabin was. Tess was confused. Why didn’t they take the other path, the one Lynn and Farrel took, but had to go all the way back to the cabin? She stopped, breathing hard, her lungs and calves were on fire from the quick run, but her gaze kept flicking back to the path. 

“Why… Why didn’t we-” she started and had to stop to take a breath. When she opened her mouth again, she was rudely interrupted by Berrigan.

“Stay here. Go into the cabin and lock the door. Do not open it to anyone. When I return with Farrel and Lynn, I will knock on the door three times, understood?” His tone was strict and Tess knew it wasn’t the time and place for arguing with him. Lynn and Farrel needed help, so she nodded hastily and walked to the cabin. After making sure she was alright and in the house, Berrigan turned around and headed to the road that the other group took. 

Tess didn’t want to be all alone in the cabin. Lynn needed her help, goddammit, and she was just supposed to wait in the safety of the cabin? Never locking the door, she paced in front of it for a second, then she narrowed her eyes as she made a decision. 

She _knew_ it wouldn’t be wise to go after Berrigan, but she felt much safer if he was there to protect her, just as… 

Only then she realised what the attacker was doing. She felt some sudden pain on her chest. At first, she panicked, but then closed her eyes for a moment. You’re fine, nothing to worry about Tess, she repeated in her mind. Just breathe. 

She stopped pacing, took one deep breath, and ran outside, leaving the door open. She ran as fast as she could, her lungs once again being on fire and her supply of oxygen low, but she had to get to Lynn and the two Rangers. She had to. Looking up at the sky, she saw dark clouds coming closer and she wished it wouldn’t rain or storm, which would make it only worse. However, she could hear thunder resonating in the distance. She scowled. A thunderstorm would just complicate things.

She wasn’t even at the crossroads when she heard the rattling sound of a crossbow and she instinctively ducked, but this time, the arrow didn’t hit a tree, nor the ground. 

She could only register a vaguely familiar voice, shouting out to her worriedly: “Tess!” 

She looked up, having heard the Ranger call out, but something else caught her attention. In a split second, a lot of things happened at once. First, Tess screamed. It was a terrifying sound that carried through the forest. It sounded as if someone was murdering her, and, in fact, maybe that was the case. A sharp, sudden pain spread through her upper right arm. It was such an intense pain that her eyes watered almost instantly, and the girl fell down on her knees. 

Only then, she looked down at the source of the pain, noticing an arrow through the veil of tears. This is the end, she thought. I am going to die here. She blinked, trying to see more clearly. The arrow had hit her and was now sticking out on the other side of her arm. Tears fell down her cheeks, but she couldn’t scream in pain or say a word; she was in shock, curled up on the ground, completely vulnerable for any other attack that could come her way. 

Berrigan had seen her approaching, he had heard the sound of the arrow being released from the crossbow, but couldn’t warn her in time. The Ranger inwardly cursed himself. In his rush to get to Farrel, he had let his guard down. If Tess hadn’t run after him, _he_ would be the target. In a way, the girl saved his life but got hurt in his stand. Now, Berrigan looked around, trying to find the attacker. 

There! A slight movement caught his attention and from where he stood, he could now see a man holding a crossbow, aiming for his next shot. Before, he had aimed for the girl's heart, and he would’ve succeeded in killing her had she not turned to her left at the last moment, placing her arm in the arrow’s path. 

The man cursed. Shit! Now he’d have to waste another arrow on this little witch! One more arrow than he had intended! Grunting, he nocked another arrow on the string. He didn’t have much time to aim anew, as the Ranger’s arrow made an end to his plans. 

The attacker screamed as his upper leg was hit by the Ranger’s arrow and he dropped the crossbow on the ground. As soon as he heard the scream, Berrigan threw his bow over his shoulder and ran to the man. He hit him hard with the pommel of his Saxe knife. 

The man let out a soft moan and fell on the ground like a sack of potatoes, unconscious. Quickly, the Ranger tied him up, making sure he couldn’t get away in case he woke up (the knot he made, tying him to a tree, was pretty tight) and made a note in his head to arrest the man later on.

He then hurried to the girl on the ground and looked at the wound. Tess was writhing in pain, curled up on the spot while her beige shirt became an ugly maroon colour. Her eyes were wide, she was hyperventilating and clutching her arm. 

Berrigan took out his knife. Tess flinched when she saw it, tears falling down and straining her shirt. The Ranger grabbed her other shoulder - it was a gentle touch, something Tess wasn’t used to, and she looked at him, her lower lip trembling, and whimpered. 

“I need to cut off the sleeve,” Berrigan said. Tess didn’t say anything. She knew he’d need to get rid of it, and the arrow was still stuck in her arm. The Ranger ripped the sleeve off in one smooth motion. 

“Oh dear, that’s gonna cause some pain,” he said when he saw the wound while thinking on what he should do now. Lynn and Farrel needed to be warned and he couldn’t take care of the wound now; he didn’t have anything at his hands to do that. Fortunately, the arrow was stuck in Tess’ arm, applying pressure, and the girl didn’t bleed as much. As long as she didn’t try to take it out right now, she should be fine. He lifted her up by the waist and Tess cried out in pain. 

Berrigan moved her to the bushes, ordering her to stay silent, or, he mused, looking at the whimpering girl, as silent as she could be. He needed to continue and warn Farrel.

At that moment, they both heard a scream from the other direction. Tess shot up her head. That gave Berrigan quite a scare, she had been so inattentive and only half-listened to him when he was talking to her, he didn’t expect her to shoot to attention now. 

“They have found them,” Tess said, her eyes widening in fear. She tried to get on her feet, but Berrigan didn’t allow it, forcing her to sit back down by applying pressure. Tess didn’t need him to coax her. She was in pain, exhausted, and knew that she would be no help if she came with the Ranger. She sniffed, curling back onto herself on the ground. 

She looked up at Berrigan, whispering: “Please save them.” The Ranger nodded, standing up.

“You stay here and I will return with both of them, alive,” he said, taking his bow off his shoulder, and heading to help his friend and the other girl out, running as fast as he could. If only he wasn’t too late…

As soon as Farrel left the girl alone, she heard some rustling and didn’t like it at all. Lynn nervously looked around herself. She didn’t like this one bit. There could be anything in the shrubbery. The only thought that kept her half-calm was that since Tess and Berrigan were being attacked, no one would go after them. With this thought in mind, Lynn remained standing where she was. She repeated a mantra in her head, nothing could hurt her here, nothing. She was wrong.

All of sudden, a man jumped out of the bushes lining the path, and, after the initial shock, Lynn did as Farrel had told her to do if she happened to encounter an attacker: run. She turned on her heels and continued to follow the road. Her knee hurt but Lynn knew that she couldn’t stop. That would mean her end. So she persisted in her mad dash, trying to get to where Farrel was. She knew he was her only chance of survival.

However, her attacker knew the area better than she did and took a shortcut through the bushes to end up in front of her. The girl had no idea of her impending demise...

After some minutes of mad running, Lynn stopped to catch her breath. Logically, she knew that she should continue running, but she couldn’t do it anymore. Her knee hurt like hell, her lungs were on fire and her legs were shaking. Moreover, she hadn’t heard any sounds behind her. Not hearing the man anymore, she stopped and bend forwards to rest her elbows on her thighs. She was exhausted. Then, her head shot up. Her ears picked up a shuffling sound like someone was moving on the path. On the same path she currently rested on.

With growing fear, she saw the man standing on the sandy path in front of her, holding a crossbow and aiming the arrow at her heart. Lynn’s eyes went wide with horror as she looked around frantically. There was no place she could use to hide; they were standing at a clearance, surrounded by nothing else than grass. She would be dead before even reaching the nearest tree. How… How would she explain that to Tess? She trembled, frozen on the spot. She wouldn’t have to explain anything to Tess if she was dead. Oh God, how would Tess take it? She wouldn’t want to live anymore without her! Tess… Live… Lynn paled. Was Tessie… Was her best friend even still alive? She had heard her screams a while back, and they stopped before the man leapt out of the bushes. Lynn effectively had no idea if Tess and Berrigan weren’t laying somewhere on the ground, bleeding profusely, or even dead. She gulped. It looked like she’d join them soon enough.

She was terrified and thought that her end was near when she heard how the man let go of the arrow. The crossbow made a rattling sound as it was let go. Lynn closed her eyes, waiting for the searing pain to come. Anticipated the moment she would fall down with an arrow stabbed in her body, dead. But the pain never came. 

At the last moment, she felt something hard nudge her side. The girl got pushed out of the way, her eyes shooting open in surprise and pain. She ended up on the ground, hitting her hip. Lynn cried out; that would result in a bruise for sure. 

A scream reached her ears and she looked up. The sight terrified her. Farrel was on the ground, his bow next to him and there was a big cut on his cheek. Even though it was just a scrape, it was bleeding so much and staining Farrel’s shirt. However, there wasn’t any time to think about it since the attacker drew another arrow. Lynn’s breath hitched in her throat. This wasn’t going to end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another evil cliffhanger >:D we like to torture not only the girls...


	13. Receiving a premium subsciption to "Bleed to your death" fanclub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two characters bleeding to their deaths. Will they survive, or will they die? How exciting...

She watched how Farrel had managed to get on his feet, taking his bow off the ground and sending one of his own arrows to the man. She almost cried out in disappointment as the man stepped out of the arrow’s path and the weapon sunk into the ground. The arrow from the crossbow was already on its way when Farrel drew the bowstring to fire his next shot but fell down on the ground when the man’s arrow hit him in his side. His own arrow ended up on the ground, totally useless.

He screamed out in agony. Lynn had to close her eyes for a second. It was so painful, it hurt to even watch him being in such agony. Farrel fell down on his knees, clutching the injury with one hand, dropping his bow on the ground next to the unused arrow. The Ranger fell down on his chest, a pained cry escaping his mouth, holding a hand on the wound.

Lynn opened her eyes. Frantically, her gaze shifted from the attacker to the Ranger on the ground. They were absolutely screwed. Lynn swallowed, the gulp barely making it through her dry throat. She fell on her knees next to Farrel. He was their only hope. Maybe if she did something with his wound, he could do some heroic deed and save them both?

As Lynn knelt next to the Ranger, she recognized that there was no one to help them. He was too wounded to shoot again, meaning that he couldn’t protect Lynn from the coming attacks. Lynn looked up, her breaths picking up as she realized that the attacker was preparing another arrow to shoot. Hurriedly, the girl looked around herself. Farrel laid on the ground, moaning in pain and probably wishing for Berrigan to show up soon. However, Lynn knew he’d be no help, at least not in this state. Who knew if Berrigan and Tess were ever coming. For all they knew, they were in trouble too. Lynn was the only one who could get the two of them out of this fix. 

In her frantic search for something to defend them both with, her eyes fell on Farrel’s battleaxe. He still had it with him, and it laid next to him on the ground. Lynn wasted no time, grabbed its handle, and despite its enormous weight, she lifted the axe up to throw at the man. She knew that this was a bad idea, getting rid of the only weapon she had at her disposal, but at least her desperate attack made the man back up and lose concentration for a bit. Farrel’s axe found its end in a tree. 

While the man was distracted by her attempt of defending them, Lynn continued searching for something she could use to get rid of the assaulter. Until her gaze fell on… no, that couldn’t ever work. Or… could it?

The attacker was smiling triumphantly. The Ranger was down, the girl didn’t pose any threat to him, especially since she was unarmed, and no one could stop him from killing that idiot Ranger now. 

As if he had all the time of the world, he pulled the string back, took an arrow, and placed it on the crossbow. Only when he looked up to aim it at the Ranger, to deliver the blow that would end the pest’s life, he saw something that made him doubt, but not for long. 

“Forget it, girl,” he smirked, too full of himself. “There is no way a nobody like YOU could-” 

_Tjang!_

An arrow flew in his direction, piercing his left ear. The man hadn’t anticipated that. He could’ve never expected that such a toothpick, such a small girl would even have the guts and knowledge. 

He screamed and reached with his left hand to his ear, feeling the warm blood that started flowing down his neck. However, he didn’t drop the crossbow on the ground. He just held it in his right hand. Surprised, he looked up. Did the girl really just-?

Lynn didn’t know how she was able to do it, or how she even came up with that idea, but some feeling told her to pick up Farrel’s bow that laid on the ground next to him and use it to scare the attacker away. Lynn didn’t even shiver when she realized that she could’ve easily killed the man. Their survival was her main priority right now, and she didn’t exactly care about being truly accused of murder if it was to save someone else’s life. And, she would never admit it, Farrel wasn’t that bad and he certainly didn’t deserve to die. 

In comparison with her own bow, the Ranger’s bow was much bigger and heavier. She had picked it up while the man was preoccupied with preparing the crossbow for his last, deadly attack. She took an arrow from Farrel’s quiver, nocked it on the string, and aimed at the man’s chest. She wasn’t that well at archery, but she could give it a try? Everything to prevent him from killing Farrel and her. Only she could help them. Lynn stretched the bowstring back and let the arrow go on its way. She hissed when the bowstring slapped her arm. In her haste, she didn’t even think about getting Farrel’s armguard. She had to endure the stinging pain until they were safe. It was too dangerous to let the enemy be right now, when he was still there, ready with his crossbow.

As soon as it flew away, she took another one, paying no mind to Farrel’s pained cries. She had to protect them first and she knew that the Ranger was well-versed in first-aid and she trusted him to apply pressure on the wound to slow down or even stop the bleeding. 

She aimed at the enemy for the second time. After he had been hit by the first arrow she fired, and bleeding a lot now, his desire to shoot at her had vanished into thin air. The girl could cause him a lot of trouble if she had decided to shoot again. Her aim was pretty good and she obviously had some experience with archery. No, it was better to retreat. He made the wisest choice and left the place. 

Before he had disappeared completely in the bushes surrounding the path and clearing, Lynn saw him glancing back with a hateful glare. The girl shot the second arrow after him as a warning: do not return, or next time you’ll be dead. She hissed in pain when the bowstring once again hit her skin. She knew her blood vessels definitely didn’t appreciate this treatment, but she hoped this was the last time she had to fire an arrow at the attacker. 

After a couple of deep breaths when she was intently staring at the place the enemy disappeared in and was quite sure that he wouldn’t try to return, she suddenly remembered Farrel and ran towards him. The Ranger was laying down, his eyes closed and he was no longer putting pressure on the wound and it bled a lot. Lynn’s heart dropped. How would she explain this to the authorities? If the Ranger died, she would surely be accused of murder, this time for real. There weren’t any witnesses except for their attacker, and Lynn would be guilty of not helping Farrel. 

She laid the bow down and crouched next to the fallen Ranger. She was starting to panic but with some rational thought, she took the quiver off his back and turned him on his left side. He didn’t respond to it at all. Lynn gently nudged him in the shoulder, but the Ranger didn’t make a move. She knew he was unconscious and she reached out with her hand to check his pulse. She sighed with relief, the pulse was still there, he was still breathing, it was only the two wounds that were a slight (read: enormous) problem. 

Her gaze went from his right cheek to his side and she saw that he was losing blood, and not just a bit. Lynn narrowed her eyes. She was absolutely screwed, she didn’t know how to help him! He didn’t have any medical tools on him and even if he had, Lynn wouldn’t have known how to use them anyway. She was completely alone in this, with unconscious Farrel losing blood fast, waiting for help that could never come. 

“Don’t worry Farrel,” she said while loosening his cloak, gently lifting him up from the ground (it was hard work, too) so she could get the whole piece of cloth, and folding it into a pillow, laying it under his head. If Farrel were to die, he should at least be comfortable. Lynn looked at his wounds. The cut on his cheek was shallow but bled a lot, but it was certainly not life-threatening and she didn't need to care about this one. What was a problem was the wound in his side. It was still bleeding a lot, and Lynn didn't know what to do with it. On one hand, she had to try and protect them both, on the other, she needed to take care of Farrel. She wasn't exactly savvy in the medical field but she did remember how the Rangers told them to put pressure on injuries, especially the second time Tess hadn't paid attention while preparing dinner and cutting herself for the second time. She remembered that moment vividly. 

_"Ow!" she heard Tess cry from the kitchen. At that moment, she was in one of the rooms, dusting the shelves off so Farrel could finally be satisfied with her work. He had already sent her to re-do it twice, and she was getting sick of it. Now, though, she left it be as it was and rushed into the kitchen. The sight terrified her._

_Tess was standing near the sink, clutching her hand. She wasn't careful and managed to scrape her finger. Berrigan was standing next to the girl._

_"Tess? What ha...ppened?" she asked as soon as she entered, only to stop in her tracks as the Ranger looked at her. He shook his head and turned to Tess who was on the verge of tears._

_"Keep putting pressure on it, Tess. Do it, and for God's sake, try to pay more attention the next time."_

_As Lynn remembered, there was no next time. From that night on, she was the one managing the kitchen and cooking, while Tess had been assigned more physically difficult jobs such as mucking out the stables and getting water and firewood._

Now, Lynn wasn't sure how exactly she should put pressure on Farrel's wound to stop the bleeding, but she had to try somehow. She looked around; a piece of cloth would be great to try and put over the wound. Looking down, Lynn grasped the hem of her pant leg, ripping off the fabric. She hurried to put it on Farrel's wound, weighing it down with a random stone she found on the ground. 

“I’m sure Berrigan will be here soon. Everything will be okay.” She bit her lip. She didn't believe those words. She didn't even know if the Ranger was alive and if he was if he'd realize that they were in such a danger. Lynn took a deep breath to keep herself calm. She had to keep faith. She couldn't lose it. Berrigan and Tess were fine, Farrel would be fine, they would all survive and come out victorious.

When she was sure that the Ranger was breathing well without any difficulties, and his wound was taken care of (or at least temporarily), she put his quiver on her back, took an arrow like a skilled archer, and nocked it on the bowstring. 

Just like a mother bear would stand in front of her cub and protect it with her body, so stood Lynn next to Farrel, making sure he would be okay. She constantly kept an eye on the bushes, in case any other attacker was hiding out there, deeming them an easy target. Ha! If anyone considered Lynn an easy target while she had the bow in her hands, they had a deathwish. 

As Tess had noticed earlier, Lynn saw how the sky turned dark real fast. No doubt it’d rain. Still, Lynn held the bow in her hands, determined to make an end to any person who wasn’t Berrigan or Tess. As the first raindrops fell on her forearm, the one she didn’t have an armguard for, she hissed. It stung but she had to keep watch. That was the least she could do. For Farrel. So she continued watching the perimeter for any slightest signs of movement.

Berrigan was running down the path. He was silently cursing. As soon as he’d left Tess, he realized that he never told her not to do anything with the arrow stuck in her arm. He had to hope that the girl would have enough common sense to leave it in place, otherwise, she might bleed out before he even got back to her with Lynn and Farrel. The thought of Tess doing something stupid (as was her nature to do stupid, immature things) made him run faster, if anything. He couldn’t risk the girl bleeding out, knowing very well that without Tess, their chances of keeping Lynn sane were minimal. Those girls needed each other, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, if he was coming late, Lynn and Farrel could both be in trouble or even dead. 

Raindrops fell down from the sky; slowly at first, but then faster and within seconds, it was raining cats and dogs. Berrigan hurried to get to his friend. From time to time, he cast a wary glance to the bushes in the sides of the path, watching if there wasn't any other hidden attacker. He wouldn't want to end up like Tess. In a way, the girl saved his life. He chastised himself. He should've been more careful. What a Ranger he was! Getting caught off-guard. Berrigan was no novice, but this was such an amateur mistake. And now Tess had to pay for that. It was mostly her own stupidity that she didn't stay in the cabin, but he was guilty too. 

Berrigan shook his head, his brown hair tied in a ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way. This was no time to think about what he had done wrong! The best thing he could do was to learn his lesson and pay more attention to his surroundings. 

So far, everything was good. His eyes didn't register any movement, and he made sure to step lightly and not make a lot of noise, otherwise, he could land in much more trouble - and he didn't have any stupid girl who could take the hit for him now. He turned the corner and almost got hit by an arrow.

At the last moment, he jumped out of the arrow’s path. Was that Farrel? It was definitely a Ranger’s arrow, nothing from a stray crossbow. He recognized the feather fletching. Looking up, he saw a dark figure standing next to a tree.

“Don’t shoot! It’s me, Berrigan! Are you okay?” he shouted and saw that the person lowered the bow. ‘He’ stepped out of the tree’s shadow. “Farrel, I’m so glad-” 

And only then he saw with horror it was Lynn, not Farrel. Immediately, he started looking for the Ranger. Lynn was here, so where did she leave Farrel? And what was she doing with his bow? A sudden fear settled in Berrigan’s stomach when he saw a strange mound in the grass. That wasn’t normal. He hurried to get to it. The Ranger was laying on the ground, barely moving. 

Lynn appeared at Berrigan’s side, pointing at Farrel. “I’m okay, but he’s not,” the girl replied. Berrigan’s breath almost hitched in his throat. Before, he didn’t see his wound. Lynn did apply pressure on it, albeit very poorly. It looked awful and Farrel laid still for that moment, if he wasn’t breathing in irregular intervals, Berrigan would’ve probably thought he was dead. However, it was the slight rising and falling of the Ranger’s chest that assured him that he was still alive. 

Berrigan knelt down and checked if Farrel was awake. To his delight, he was, although not that much. One half-open eye peeked up at Berrigan, assuring him that he was fine (read: absolutely _not fine_ ). Berrigan had already seen Farrel’s injury, but one thing hid quite well in the grass and rain, a thing that he didn’t notice when he first hurriedly checked him over. 

“Oh gods, not you too,” the brown-haired Ranger said, seeing the arrow in his friend’s side. Lynn’s eyes widened when she heard these words. She had been worried about Farrel, but now, the grip she maintained on the bow tightened in fear. She couldn’t see any injury on Berrigan’s body so far, so would it mean that Tess…? She looked around, but Tess was nowhere in sight. 

Berrigan quickly inspected Farrel’s injury. Just like with Tess, he didn’t have any medical supplies at hand, which meant that they had to get somewhere, in this case, the cabin, before the situation got worse. Berrigan took off his own bow, handing it to Lynn. She quietly grabbed it and threw it over her shoulder. The bow would only stand in the way. 

“We need to get back before he loses too much blood,” Berrigan said, reaching for his friend to help him. Farrel groaned when he was lifted up by the other Ranger. He was used to getting hurt. He was no stranger to injuries. But, he couldn’t deny that it hurt like hell. 

He huffed in effort when they started walking. He could’ve sworn that it didn’t hurt this much when he broke his leg… and on two different places on top of that! This was hell. 

When Berrigan was almost at the place he had left Tess, Farrel didn’t want to endure that torture anymore. The pain was too much to bear and he would only slow them down. His head hurt too. It was like there were dwarves pounding on his skull. He felt light, and, as he knew quite well, that was the effect of losing a lot of blood. It would be easier if they just... “L-leave me here, a-and protect the girl,” he said, gasping for air. 

Berrigan looked down at him, surprised. Rangers usually held on to their will to live, what happened? However, it wasn’t him who answered, but Lynn. 

“Oh hell no, you’re coming with us,” she said, determined to drag the Ranger back to his own cabin if she had to. He had saved her life thrice already, and she felt compelled to do the same for him. 

They set off again. Berrigan walked at a fast pace, trying to get the injured Ranger home as soon as possible, but something wasn’t right. When they were walking before, Berrigan could sense how Farrel was tensing his muscles to help him carry him, now, he had become a dead weight in his arms. The brown-haired Ranger looked down at his friend. 

True enough, Farrel collapsed in his arms. Maybe it was for the better, too. The rain was staining his shirt, making the blood soak into his clothes further and make it look like his injury was much bigger. 

“Lynn, go ahead and find Tess. She should be somewhere on the left side of the path,” he ordered the girl. Lynn didn’t need to ask what happened. She saw Farrel’s closed eyes, only his chest moving and knew. She nodded, letting Berrigan know that she heard him.

Lynn walked in front of them, looking around if she could see anything, but all she saw was heavy rain. She was looking to the left side just like the Ranger told her, but the damned rain acted like an impenetrable veil. 

Suddenly, she was startled by a cry: “There you are!”

Hearing the voice of her friend so unexpectedly made Lynn jump in the air but happy. The girl narrowed her eyes. She also heard some… pain in her voice? Squinting, she looked for the source, but the rainfall was still thick and she could see her friend until Tess got up, grunting in pain and walking to the group. She appeared from between the bushes like a ghost, silently hissing with each step, only to see that Farrel was carried by Berrigan. Momentarily, she forgot about her pain. 

Berrigan, unconscious Farrel, and… Lynn was there, soaked wet just like the rest of them, but she appeared uninjured and Tess smiled weakly. She was glad her best friend was alive and well. However, the same couldn't be said for Farrel. The girl looked at Lynn, seeing that she truly was unharmed except for some swelling on her forearm. 

“You okay? Seems like your mission didn’t go as planned either,” she asked, turning to Lynn and narrowing her eyes. 

Lynn looked at her friend and scanned her body for injuries, and stopped when she noticed the red coloured arm, eyes widening. 

“Tess,” she said in a low voice, “you’re gonna be the cause of my death, I swear.” 

"Ehhh, I didn't want to?" Tess sheepishly smiled, reaching with her hand to scratch her neck (a very dangerous activity, especially if performed by Lynn in front of Farrel), but she hissed in pain not even two seconds later. 

Before Lynn could say anything, Berrigan interjected: "Girls, let's go home, we need to take care of Farrel and you, Tess." 

His voice was urgent and the girls immediately stopped. This was the question of life and death. Farrel's life could very well depend on how fast they were. So they shut up and followed Berrigan through the heavy rain. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda short chapter, but we had Evil Exams™ and this was all we got done


	14. Welcome to nightmareland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very painful chapter for some... not the authors tho

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter is pretty graphic, contains wounds, stitching, and self-harm, just so you know

The four of them walked back to the cabin. Halfway there, Tess stopped, clutching her arm and trying to lick her cheeks. 

“Why… Why is the rain so salty?” she asked, already knowing the answer. Berrigan went on, not really caring about the girl, but Lynn grasped the bows in one hand and half-hugged her. 

“Come on, Tessie,” she said, using a diminutive of her name. Tess shook her head but when Lynn gently applied pressure on her shoulders, she went on, matching her pace to her friend’s.

The quartet was finally at the cabin's door and entered the living room. Lynn, as the only one who hadn't had her arms full (Tess didn't count. Tess only had one functional arm), opened the door and laid the bows next to the door. Berrigan with Farrel entered, followed by Tess. The first thing Berrigan ordered Lynn to do, was to make a fire. While the girl obediently fetched wood so she could light it up, he laid his friend on the ground in front of the fireplace. They were all soaked to the bone and a storm raged outside, so a fire would do them all good, especially Farrel who looked on the brink of death. Berrigan wiped his hands (they were wet from the rain mixed with sweat from the worry) on his pants and headed to his bedroom to grab his first aid bag. Once there, he reconsidered. After all, they had two sick friends, so he made a brief stop in Farrel’s bedroom to grab his first aid kit too. 

Tess sat down on the couch, feeling dizzy and the pain spread in her arm. She hissed in pain when she sat down. As the disastrous creature she was, she turned around in curiosity, wanting to see how bad Farrel’s injuries were. In doing so, the arrow in her arm touched the surface of the couch and an enormous pain erupted in her arm. Tess screamed, yanking her arm to herself. Through the tears of pain that pooled up in her eyes, she saw blank spots. Red blood turned the couch a dirty crimson colour. Tess blinked the tears out of her eyes. The pain remained, but it dulled down to a constant, ever-present ache. Tess wanted to see where Lynn was. 

The other girl was preparing the fireplace, looking over at her and Farrel worriedly. When Tess screamed a few seconds ago, she yanked her head upwards, almost bolting to her, when she saw her shivering. While not sure if it was because of the shock or the cold, she figured a fire was the best option to keep both patients warm. Or at least to get their clothes to dry, so they could regain some colour in their faces. Farrel was deathly pale from the loss of blood and Tess had her cheeks and nose red from crying, otherwise, she was as white as a chalk. Lynn nodded at Tess, letting her know that she’d be with her as soon as she lit up the fire. 

Tess only saw her movement from the corner of her eye. She was too afraid to move again lest she’d end up in pain again if the arrow… the arrow. She looked down at her arm. Only now she had the time to think of what happened. She was stupid again. She should've stayed in the cabin just like Berrigan had ordered her to do, but she decided to be disobedient and it almost cost her her life. She didn't realize that with her reckless actions, she saved Berrigan's life. Tess wasn't trained to see the little details. At that moment, all she could think about was that without the Ranger's warning, she'd be dead. She was well aware that the attacker was aiming at her heart. Without Berrigan, she would involuntarily leave Lynn with the two Rangers. The bandits would kill her. This wasn't the first time when she'd realized that her life was truly at stake here and it was so fragile, but it always managed to terrify her a good deal. And what also made her scared was that there were more bad guys. Anyone they met could be an enemy and it made her sick. Tess didn't have time to remind herself to tell Berrigan that in the hurry, he had left the attacker there, tied to a tree, because she almost fell off the couch. She indeed would've fallen on the floor and have the arrow sink deeper into her arm if Lynn hadn’t caught her. Her arms wrapped around Tess' torso, lifting her up and supporting her. Unfortunately, even then Lynn involuntarily touched the arrow but Tess didn't have the strength to cry out in pain anymore. She looked up at Lynn before she passed out for a moment. 

To prevent her friend from another fall, Lynn laid her friend on the ground, in front of the fireplace. She had to drag her half of the way, only keeping her upper body off the floor, careful not to touch the arrow or the wound itself. Such care wasn't possible when she laid Tess on the ground, and the girl moaned in pain. Lynn stroke her hair to try to make her calm down, and it worked some. Tess still seemed in pain, and when the girl looked at her, she saw that the Czech girl had her eyes open. They were blank and unfocused but she was awake. Lynn hummed to calm her down more - but more to keep herself calm - and she looked up when she heard the door creak. Berrigan came out of Farrel's bedroom. 

Once back, the Ranger came to the conclusion that he had a problem: both Farrel and Tess needed urgent medical help, but he only had two hands. He looked at the girl. She stood up from her place and went to the sink. Would she be able to help? Did she have any medical training? He huffed in exasperation. He was sure that Lynn wanted to help Tess, but probably wouldn't want to or couldn't hurt her more during the treatment, so he had to be the one to take care of the girl. He also knew that Lynn would want him to look at Tess first, but Farrel was in a bigger need of treatment. 

“Berrigan, let me help you,” the Dutch girl said after she saw him standing in the room, his arms crossed on his chest, his eyes going from the brown-haired girl to Farrel. She had already filled two bowls with warm water and now she crouched down and placed them next to the man and the girl. Berrigan didn’t hesitate with giving her an answer. Farrel and Tess needed help, fast, and if she was offering to help and wasn’t bothered by all the blood, then even better. 

“Do you know anything of first aid?” he asked her. Frankly, he didn’t expect her to know anything, but to his relief, she nodded. 

“Yes, although not that much. But anything is better than letting them bleed, right?” Berrigan had to admit that she was right. Even a little to no knowledge was better than no knowledge. She could help stop the bleeding at least. 

He cut the knot and knelt down next to Tess. He gently inspected if her eyes reacted to light. She was awake now and watching his every move, even though she was still deathly pale. 

“I will take care of your friend and help you with taking care of Farrel, alright? Do as I tell you and it should be alright,” he ordered her. Lynn wasn’t about to argue with anything he told her to do. She also wanted to save Tess and Farrel’s lives. 

“Just tell me what I need to do,” she said, determined to do anything. She was ready to see blood. She was prepared to do anything to help them. At least, her resolve was strong. 

“I need you to cut Farrel’s shirt open. I already did that with Tess’ shirt, but I have to cut off the whole shoulder and the side. The blood’s there, too,” he told her, getting a knife from the medical kit and Lynn did the same. The Ranger grabbed Tess’ shirt for the second time that day. With the fire, the blood was drying up rapidly, sticking to the girl’s skin and it would be even more painful than if he left it alone. He needed to cut off the whole shoulder to give him better access to the wound without having the shirt in the way. Fortunately, Tess had been wearing a strophium, so there were no problems with cutting the whole fabric off. Otherwise, if the blood glued the shirt to her skin, it would be very painful. It had already stuck to her side too and Tess yelped in pain when he cut her shirt off. 

Now, Lynn had to do the same with Farrel’s shirt but was afraid to do that. She knew she had to; hell, she wanted to help the Ranger, but she just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t risk being a lubber and hurting Farrel even more in the process. 

“Let me do it for you,” Berrigan said when he saw her hesitation and he cut Farrel’s shirt around the wound in one smooth swing. The injured Ranger didn't react in any way. It was scary, seeing how his face progressively paled as he lost more blood. 

Berrigan then grabbed the arrow in the girl’s arm. Tess squeezed her eyes shut and yelped when the arrow moved in her arm. 

"I'm sorry," he apologized to Tess. He kept his gaze fixed on her arm; he couldn't bear to see how scared her expression had become as she realized that pain was about to come. 

"N… no-" she wanted to stop him, but Berrigan broke the arrow and pulled it out of the girl’s arm. He managed that in one swift movement but Tess still screamed in pain and clawed at his cloak with her free hand. She was only half-conscious, but she still trashed and tried to get away from the horrible man who was causing her the pain. Berrigan had to grab her shoulder and hold her down with his whole weight so she wouldn't move her arm. Immediately after he pulled the arrow out (he had to pierce her arm on the other side too, otherwise the arrow wouldn't go out), her wound bled even more. Tess cried and moaned in pain and twisted some more until she stopped moving altogether. The poor girl passed out again from the drop in her blood pressure and was now unmoving on the floor. Berrigan shot her one worried gaze but there were other things to take care of. He had to stop the bleeding, and he managed that by pressing cloth on it. Berrigan sighed in relief when he slowly removed the cloth after some minutes and saw that the girl was still bleeding, but it was stopping. That was at least one good thing. Nevertheless, he didn't stop applying the pressure. 

Lynn did the same with Farrel’s arrow; she broke it and pulled it out as well. She felt how her fingers trembled the whole time. She almost, just almost got sick looking at how the arrow pierced Farrel’s skin, but she knew that she needed to go on. She had to take care of him. Quickly, she pressed a cloth on the wound and waited for the next step. She had seen how Tess reacted and stopped moving. Lynn might’ve not wanted to treat her out of fear for her, but she never realized that Tess was frightened of being treated by Berrigan. 

The Ranger looked at her from where he was putting pressure on the Czech girl’s arm. 

“Now you need to clean it with water,” he said, pulling the bowl with water to himself. “Make sure that all the dirt is out,” Lynn repeated his actions. She had trouble stretching herself to reach the bowl without letting go of Farrel’s side. She didn’t need to treat the Ranger’s cheek scratch; it had already stopped bleeding some time ago.

Both of them took the bowl and dipped a deep cloth in the water. With it, they rinsed the wounds. Berrigan was glad to see that Tess’ wound wasn’t that dirty, there were just a few grains from when she was laid on the ground, and from the rain. That was good news. Berrigan quickly looked over the girl. She was still out of it, and he hoped she’d stay like that, at least until all was done. He wouldn’t admit it, but even when weak, Tess was pretty strong and could put up a fight. 

When Lynn started rinsing the injury, Farrel’s wound started bleeding a lot, making the girl panic a bit. She stopped and pulled her hand close to her side, afraid that she had done something wrong. That wasn’t normal, was it? Farrel still laid as still as a ghost and Lynn's self-confidence dropped significantly when she heard him take small, shallow breaths from time to time. She shivered, not wanting to think about what could happen, but she found encouragement in Berrigan's words. 

“Don’t worry about that. It will bleed less after some time. Clean it as well as you can.” Lynn nodded. Farrel did need help and she was the only one who could provide it at the moment. She dipped the cloth in the water and started to rinse Farrel's wound again. There was a lot of dirt. The Ranger had been laying in the grass and when the rainfall started, the raindrops turned the ground into mud, and drops of it got into the wound. She finished cleaning the injury and then pressed a clean cloth onto the wound. The next part would be the most difficult one. Lynn gulped when she saw Berrigan take out the needles and the threads, remembering back to the last night when Farrel had to stitch _her_ up, and she shivered. Her gaze shifted from Tess back to Farrel.

She knew for sure that Berrigan could stitch her friend, but she had never done that before in her whole life! She was scared, and the thought of the needle going through the skin made her properly sick, too. Lynn wasn’t sure if she could do it.

“Berrigan, can’t you stitch Farrel as well?” she asked, fear visible in her eyes. She truly wasn’t sure if she wanted to be the one to inflict even more pain upon Farrel. But Berrigan shook his head. “No, I need to take care of Tess.” In fact, Tess wasn’t bleeding as much and he could’ve taken care of Farrel, but he also knew that if he did that first, Lynn would insist on him taking care of Tess. Farrel was in bigger need of medical assistance and as such, Berrigan had no time to argue with one girl. 

Moreover, Tess passed out when he got the arrow out of her wound, and Berrigan knew how strong she could be even when injured. The girl was now half-conscious, her eyes unfocused on the ceiling and she wasn’t moving, for which Berrigan should’ve been thankful. Right now, she barely felt anything. Yes, it hurt when the man touched her arm and cleaned the wound, but she was still subdued enough that she wasn’t able to move nor yelp in pain. She could only whimper quietly, but that was all. So far, she put up no fight and Berrigan hoped that she would stay still for this part too. Especially for this part of the procedure.

Lynn swallowed nervously. Berrigan seemed to trust her with taking care of the injured Ranger, but what if she messed it up and Farrel would die because of her fault? Her amateur fault? Berrigan knew much more about this than she did. What if she hit a blood vessel? What if she wasn’t fast enough? She just couldn’t - wouldn’t want to live with this thought! The thoughts that she was the one who murdered the local Ranger.

“Lynn, look at me.” She looked up, her eyes shining with unshed tears. She saw Berrigan glancing at her with his blue eyes. He rested his blood-stained hand on Lynn's to try and make her feel relaxed. When the girl looked into his eyes, she could see a determined expression. He believed that she could stitch his friend up, and that offered her the reassurance she needed. 

“Just as you trust me to take care of Tess, so do I trust you in taking care of Farrel," he said, the same determination projecting into his voice. 

Lynn nodded. She could do this. “Okay, in that case: tell me how to stitch him up.”

The Ranger nodded; even though Lynn phrased that as a command, and she knew that she could never command a Ranger around, but they had little time so he let it slide this time. Lynn needed to know, and he was the only one who could show her. 

"Very well, take the needle and put the thread through that little hole, just like if you were sewing." While speaking, he held up the needle. This medical needle wasn't straight as most of the needles, but curved, so it would be easier to stitch people up. It was in the shape of a crescent. Berrigan held up the thread and did it with his own needle, and watched how Lynn did the same. She had no difficulties with it, after all, she knew how to sew. The only difference this time was that she was going to sew into Farrel. The girl looked up when she was done. 

Berrigan took Tess' arm into his hand. Looking down at her, he saw that she was awake already, and she was watching his every move with scared eyes. The Ranger desperately hoped that she was still half-asleep and wouldn't try to make it worse for both herself and him. 

"Now look," he positioned the needle next to Tess' wound. Lynn leaned forward to see better. She didn't like it; in fact, she hated how helplessly scared Tess was. The girl didn't have the strength to yank her arm away but was eyeing them both all scared and Lynn didn't like it one bit. 

"Shhh Tessie, you'll be alright," she cooed as a mother would to a baby. Her friend slowly lifted her good hand, holding her palm open. An invitation to hold her hand, but Lynn couldn't. Not this time. 

"I'm… I'm sorry, Tessie. I can't. Have to take care of Farrel," she shrugged, her voice becoming high. Seeing how the first tear slid down Tess' cheeks, she turned her attention to the girl's arm and what Berrigan wanted to show her. 

The Ranger saw he had Lynn's attention and plunged the needle into Tess' flesh. 

"Ow!" she cried, more tears appearing in her eyes. It hurt, and when the needle pierced her arm, she bit down on the first thing her teeth found - her own tongue. That hurt too and Tess watched as Berrigan smoothly made a few stitches and made a neat knot. She thought it was the end, finally, but she was mistaken. She cried as she was turned over on her belly and her bad arm was stretched so Berrigan could access the exit wound. Knowing what was about to come, Tess wanted to squirm and turn again, until she felt two fingers under her jaw where it ended near the ear, and she lost consciousness. 

Berrigan sighed. He never wanted to use the pressure points, but the girl gave him no other option. Quietly, he set to work to stitch the exit wound. 

It took Lynn longer than Berrigan to stitch Farrel's wound. In the beginning, she was a bit clumsy, even piercing herself with the needle a few times due to its unusual shape, but she persisted. She had to; Farrel was paler and paler and she was scared of losing him, of not being good and fast enough to save him. She let her pierced skin bleed, only licking the blood to keep her fingers from sliding along the needle. She focused on making the stitched just tight enough so they wouldn't be too loose or accidentally rip when the Ranger moved around. It was a difficult and tiring work (not just physically, but also mentally), but, after almost half an hour, she was also done. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, she examined him. The cut on his cheek couldn’t be stitched; it was too shallow and had stopped bleeding already. It just had to heal by itself. Lynn let out a relieved sigh; it exhausted her more than she thought it would. She sat down and put one of her bleeding fingers into her mouth. After this experience, Lynn had a newfound respect for all doctors. 

The girl watched as Berrigan lifted unconscious Tess off the ground (he was all done with taking care of her wound) and went with her in the bedroom's direction, where he laid her on the bed. He had put some salve on her arm to ease the pain and bandaged the wound as well. The poor girl had stitches on two sides, and it'd give her quite a scar after it would be healed. Yet, Berrigan wasn't sure if she'd get out of this with only a scar. He wasn't an expert in the medical field, and he had no idea if the arrow didn't damage some muscles or tendons. If it had, it would cause a much bigger problem for Tess in the future. For now, they all had to wait. And, even though he was a Ranger and was trained to wait patiently, Berrigan hated that. 

He covered the girl's torso with the blanket (since he had to cut her shirt and she was wearing only a strophium), leaving her bandaged arm out and laying on the blanket. The Ranger sighed. Right now, he couldn't do anything more for her. Then, he turned around and left back to the living room.

He walked to Lynn, to see how she was doing. And, even more importantly, how Farrel was doing. He hoped that he made the right decision when he let the girl stitch him up instead of doing it himself. He wouldn't forgive himself if Farrel didn't make it. 

The Ranger bent over his fallen comrade. Thankfully, Lynn was quite quick despite being a beginner, and it seemed like she had done it properly. Berrigan inspected the stitched wound closely. 

“That looks good Lynn, you can apply some salve and then wrap him up.” With shaking fingers, Lynn reached for the salve and applied it to the wound's length. It was cool and soothed her bleeding fingers as well. Lynn sighed when it did. Her skin must've looked awful, especially on her forefinger and middle finger. She closed the small jar with the salve and reached for the bandage. 

To wrap him up, Berrigan had to lift Farrel from the ground. The injured Ranger wasn't exactly light and Berrigan, exhausted as he was, had problems keeping him just a few centimeters up above the floor. 

With quick fingers, Lynn wrapped the bandage around Farrel's torso. It first became red, but then pink. Lynn sighed in relief. He'd be okay, she was sure of it. Looking at the bandage, the girl knew that she would have to change it later, but for now, it was good. Berrigan took off Farrel’s scabbard, as well as the ripped part of his tunics. The sleeping Ranger definitely didn't need those in his sleep. 

“He can’t wear them anymore and it will help us when curing the wound,” he explained to Lynn. The girl nodded. It was only logical not to let him wear it. She still sat on the floor, and for the first time in forever, she listened to the sound of rain hitting the cabin's roof. Finally, it was over. The murderer was still loose, but they managed to save both Farrel and Tess. 

Oh how soon she learned that she shouldn't make early conclusions. 

They were thinking about how everything went smoothly… until it didn't. All of sudden, Lynn noticed that Farrel's chest was no longer rising and falling. The Ranger stopped breathing. 

Panicked, she grabbed the hem of Berrigan's trousers. 

"Berrigan!" she shrieked, fear lacing her voice. Tears threatened to make their way into her eyes. Wasn't he going to make it after all their hard work to save him? Did he lose too much blood? 

The Ranger moved his leg and made her let go of his pants. He crouched down next to Farrel. 

"I see it, Lynn," he said while reaching out his hand and trying to find a pulse. There was none. Lynn whimpered quietly from behind him, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Did they do all of this… for nothing? 

"This is bad," she heard Berrigan mumble. Well, of course, this was bad, Lynn wanted to snap. Every moment when a person didn't have a pulse and stopped breathing was bad! She didn't realize that Berrigan was in just as much stress as she was. However, he knew basic first aid, and therefore got up quickly, ripped off the remnants of Farrel's shirt, and started with a heart massage. 

Lynn sat on the floor, unable to do anything, and sniffed. Yes, he was terrible to them, but he didn't deserve to die. Lynn would blame herself for the rest of her life if he did. 

She watched as Berrigan repeated the movements over and over. The tears were now flowing down her face as she didn't believe that he would make it anymore, but then, Farrel took two raspy breaths. 

"It… it's working!" Lynn exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about crying. Berrigan didn't bother to nod, just continued. Rasping for air didn't necessarily mean that he was getting better. But all his trying paid off. Two minutes later, Farrel started breathing normally, his chest rhythmically rising and falling again. 

Berrigan sat back and wiped the sweat off his forehead. That was a close call, a very close call. 

Lynn now almost broke down. She laid on the floor, sobbing into her own shirt. Suddenly, she felt a calming hand on her shoulder. She looked up, her eyes glossy and she had to blink several times to see sharply again. 

"Lynn, he will be alright," Berrigan said reassuringly. Lynn couldn't help but notice that his tone betrayed him. No, not even Berrigan knew if Farrel would survive. This night would be critical. 

"Right now, it will be good to get him into a bed. He shouldn't stay shirtless too long," he said, crouching down, placing one hand behind the man’s shoulders and the other under his knees. Lynn just watched as he did that. If it was under different circumstances, Lynn might have even noticed that Farrel was quite attractive, yet she sat on the floor, looking at Berrigan.

“Lynn, how about you get a drink and go check how Tess is doing?” Berrigan suggested. The girl needed something to get her mind off of what just happened. Lynn seemed to nod off but eventually got up and went to fill her glass with water, while Berrigan carried Farrel to his bed. After setting him down, he took off his boots. He wouldn’t need them for a long time. Lynn followed him, tiptoeing into the room, holding her glass of water, but she was asked to leave the two Rangers alone for a moment. 

Lynn nodded sadly. She wanted to know if he would be alright. But there was also someone else who could use her attention.

For a second, Lynn felt horrified. How easily could she forget about her friend! She shook her head. How could she care more about the Ranger than about her best friend? They had both been in grave danger today and yet, she had eyes only for Farrel. 

Lynn looked at the floor. She made herself sad. Looking around the living room, she briefly put another log into the fireplace so the fire kept going, drank the last bit of water that was in her glass and went into Berrigan’s bedroom, which was Tess’ new kingdom. 

She quietly closed the door behind her and sat down on the bed next to Tess. She was covered by the blankets, only her head and arm were out, and Lynn took the time to look at her properly. Tess looked awful. She was pale from the loss of blood, her hair was super messy from when she was fighting the bad guy, not to mention that it stuck together as it dried up after the rain. Come to think of it, it hasn't stopped raining yet. The weather was just as melancholic as the mood inside the cabin. Lynn let out a deep sigh and took Tess' hand in hers. She didn't know why, but she felt so emotional right now. She felt like crying over her best friend who could've died (not to mention that she was about to get another shock when Berrigan would tell her that she did almost die).

“This time it’s you who got hurt,” Lynn said in a soft voice. Tess didn't respond. Of course, she didn't; she was knocked out cold. It would be a surprise if she woke up anytime soon. What set Lynn's mind at ease was that she was breathing regularly and didn't seem to have problems with that. 

Yet, she felt terrible about what happened to her friend. She should’ve never let them be separated from each other. If they didn’t go each their own separate way, this wouldn’t have happened. Berrigan hurried to warn the two of them, and Tess followed him because she was worried about her. About her. Lynn felt terrible. She was the reason her friend was now laying motionless in this bed. If only she’d persisted to go together… 

She hung her head, a tear sliding down her cheek. Lynn sniffed and wiped it off with her free hand. Tess would recover, she told herself. She had to keep telling herself that. No one should be blamed for her injury apart from the guy who shot her. 

Lynn stroked Tess’ hair. 

“You shouldn’t have gone after Berrigan,” she whispered. Yet, Lynn felt flattered that Tess would risk her life for her. No one else would. She sighed and continued: “But I understand Tessie. I’d have done the same.” Her words fell on deaf ears. Tess didn’t hear her - couldn’t, in her sleep. But Lynn knew that even when sleeping, people could perceive words and tones spoken to them, so she continued speaking to Tess in a soft voice. 

"You know, I was really scared today. I thought for sure that the bad guys… that they would go after me," she fell silent for a moment. "Since Berrigan and Farrel found that…" she shivered, "... mannequin of me." 

Tess remained silent but Lynn needed to talk to someone. She was no longer able to think straight. Lynn closed her eyes tightly and tried to stop the tears. 

"I… thought that… I… I'd l-lose you," she choked. "When I h-heard your s-scream… I t-thought you were d-dead." Other words got stuck on her throat as she couldn't continue. She didn't trust her own voice. Tess didn't deserve to hear her monologue about how worried she was. She had to think of something nice that could help her recover, not those pessimistic thoughts. 

Lynn waited a few minutes and tried to take deep breaths to calm herself down.

"R-remember how you got sick in January? You had to stay in the dorms," Lynn smiled. Tess lived in a dorm for Erasmus students and their whole lives in the 21st century seemed like ages ago, it was unbelievable. 

"But I ignored the rule that you had to stay alone. I went in and fed you chicken soup, remember? And then a week later, you had to do the same for me because I caught the flu from you." She smiled. Tess had warned her not to get too close yet she insisted on spoon-feeding her until the soup was gone. 

Lynn tried hard to remember other nice moments the two of them shared back in the Netherlands. There was a ton of them, for example, the one when she took Tess to the sea (as Tess had only seen sea seven times in her whole life) and how they watched the fish. However, Lynn's mind was as blank as a Word document of a student trying to start their assignment. 

Lynn sighed. With Tess not responding, she felt as if all her talking was in vain. She wanted her friend to be awake, to be happy, and just be there. They always supported each other when the other needed it. Now, Tess was out of business and Lynn had a hard time dealing with her own feelings. Why, why did she have to go after Berrigan? Why did she get shot? 

Tess just remained peacefully asleep. During their whole impromptu trip to Araluen, Lynn had never seen her friend look so peaceful when she slept. Tess was always anxiously tossing and turning, she never stopped, except for the nights she was being hugged by Lynn. Maybe it was exhaustion, maybe because she was knocked out by Berrigan, but Lynn felt calm when she saw her sleeping so peacefully. Tess deserved some rest, after everything she'd been through. 

After some time, Lynn decided it was time to go check what the Rangers were doing. Well, more like what Berrigan was doing. She knew that Farrel would be out cold, just like Tess. 

The girl stood up, planting a soft kiss on the top of Tess' head, and left her, closing the door behind her. As expected, Tess didn't even stir. 

From the second bedroom, Berrigan heard Lynn entering the living room. The girl's quiet footsteps echoed in his ears, but he stayed with Farrel. It was important that he watched him, in case he had another heart failure. If that happened, he'd need to act fast. And, tonight, Farrel was at risk of heart failure. 

Berrigan sat on a chair next to Farrel's bed. He changed him into his night pants but left his chest bare so they could easily look after the wound. He had his medical kit right next to him and he was just absentmindedly listening to the sounds of raindrops hitting the cabin's roof. It was a calming sound, after all. 

Lynn, meanwhile, didn't know what to do. Without any direct orders from the Rangers, without Tess, she felt alone. She was bored and didn't have a task to do, a purpose. She was restless. After leaving Tess' room, she sat down on the couch, but couldn't help but tap her leg against the floor constantly. It didn't help that Berrigan still hasn't left the other bedroom. After a while, Lynn stood up and paced in front of the fireplace before sitting down again. She felt tears make their way into her eyes. Although she wasn’t that fond of Farrel, she felt terrible that he was wounded. And more, because he got wounded when protecting _her_ from danger. That was even worse and weighed on Lynn's shoulders as an immovable burden. If anything, the knowledge that Farrel almost died to protect her made all of this waiting even worse. She didn't know if he wouldn't die. If he did, and for God's sake she hoped he wouldn't, she could never forgive herself. 

Lynn stood up again, looked if they had enough water and her hand unconsciously went to her neck. The newly-stitched wound was itchy again and she felt the need to scratch it. But, before her fingers could touch the wound, she remembered Farrel's words: " _Scratch it and you're mine_." Lynn almost broke into tears. She couldn't take the waiting anymore. Walking through the living room, she knocked on the door, but didn’t wait for an answer; she had to know if he was doing well. Even if Berrigan didn't invite her in, she'd invite herself. Grabbing the handle, Lynn opened the door and stepped inside. 

She saw the two men, Farrel laid in his bed, he was breathing regularly (thank God), and Berrigan sat on his bed and was looking at his friend. When Lynn invited herself into the room, he looked up to see her dark silhouette. 

“You know it’s rude to enter without permission?” he said tiredly. This, he supposed, was even more tiring than any Ranger job. Watching so anxiously if his friend would live or die. It was a nerve-wracking job.

He meant the comment as a joke, but when Lynn took a few steps closer, he saw that the girl was at the edge of crying. In the dim light, he could see her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Immediately, he assumed that something was wrong. His logical mind went through the first possibility. Did something happen to her friend, to Tess? He supposed that Lynn would act like this. 

"Lynn, are you alright? Is Tess alright?" he asked with a concerned tone. He wouldn't be able to take it if there was a complication with Tess as well. 

Lynn shook her head. Some tears glistened as they fell from her eyes with the sharp head movement. 

Berrigan's heart almost stopped when he asked if Tess was alright but Lynn shook her head as in "no". He made a move to stand up when Lynn spoke up. 

"Tess is okay. Hasn't moved yet," she said in a small voice that made the Ranger just a little bit calmer because Lynn seemed on the verge of a breakdown. Concerned, he kept watching her. 

She approached him and looked down at the injured Ranger. He was shirtless and the bandage made it clear just how big his wound was. And it was Lynn's fault, that he laid there so helplessly. 

“Will… will Farrel become better?” she asked in a small voice. Looking at him right now, it didn't seem like he would ever recover. It was hopeless, all in vain. Lynn wanted to cry, yet she didn't. She stubbornly tried to keep her tears from flowing freely down her face.

The other man shrugged. “I think he will, but we can’t do anything for him now. We have to wait until he wakes up.” His heart almost broke when he saw the girl's defeated expression. Now they could only wait. Berrigan didn't think that letting Lynn go around so sad and alone was a good idea. Lynn was used to having Tess around at all times, they always had each other, but she was injured and sleeping, and Lynn seemed to be really sad. Berrigan had seen sad people do things they regretted later. He assumed that it would be better if he spent the time with her. 

He stood up, looked at his injured friend one more time, and went to the kitchen. 

"Lynn, are you coming?" he asked, stopping at the door. The girl shook her head. 

"Can I…Can I have a few minutes with him?" she requested, hanging her head. 

Berrigan nodded. He trusted the girl enough not to do anything to Farrel. Not after she just went through the trouble of saving his life.

After everything that had happened, the two of them could use some coffee, he thought. And, as it seemed to be a long night, taking shifts in watching Farrel… yep, they would definitely need the coffee. Berrigan got his cloak on and hurried to get some water in the damned rain. 

Lynn stayed in the room and sat down on the chair in front of Farrel. She took a deep breath. The girl was 100% sure that this would be the most awkward thing she had ever done, but there wasn't anyone who would see her. Or hear her - for that matter. She didn’t know if Farrel would hear her, but she could at least try? She played with her hands in her lap before she took another breath and started.

“Farrel, if you can hear me - I have no idea if you do, but… thank you for saving my life, again. I know I’m a troublemaker, and I’m sorry that you’re wounded because of me. So, please, wake up and be healthy again. If it’s not for me, do it for Berrigan. He doesn’t say it, but I can see in his eyes that he’s scared,” she said in a soft voice. She was openly crying when she got to the last part. She never knew that blabbering about feelings would make her so emotional. It was difficult too. It felt awkward, yet so right. Lynn hung her head and let tears fall on her knees in silence.

From the kitchen, Berrigan could hear her. He had come with fresh water and put it over the fire. That's when he heard her voice through the open door. He felt how his throat became dry and sharp pain in his chest appeared for a moment or so. He heard it all. How the girl blamed herself for everything and was clearly worried about Farrel. He furrowed his brows as he prepared coffee for the two of them. Why did she care so much about him, after being scared for the last two, almost three weeks? Was it… Berrigan's eyes widened in realization. Was it yesterday that changed her mind about the axe-wielding Ranger? He made a mental note to watch her behaviour over the next days. 

A minute or five later, Lynn got to her feet and walked to the couch. She didn't close the door in case something happened. She and Berrigan needed to be able to hear the other Ranger if he couldn't breathe or if there were any complications.

As she sat down on the couch, she realized that she felt so helpless, not being able to do anything except waiting. Burying her head in her hands, she was almost ready to cry again but never got the chance to do so.

A steaming mug was held in front of her and she gladly took it, thanking Berrigan. He knew exactly what to do to divert her attention from her injured friend and the Ranger. Lynn smiled sadly and started to sip her coffee. 

They sat in silence, listening to the sound of raindrops on the roof, and occasional thunder in the distance, drinking their coffees and staring into the flames. Lynn did all of those things numbly as if there wasn't any happiness left on Earth. Berrigan kept watching her from the corner of his eye. He really didn’t like the numbness in her eyes.

When Lynn had finished her coffee, she got up to bring it back, but then stopped walking. She kept standing in one place and tilted her head. 

“Lynn? What’s wrong?” the brown-haired Ranger demanded when he saw her shaking. He tilted his head as well but he couldn't hear anything. At first, nothing seemed wrong. Then he got it. 

"Farrel!" he shot up from his chair, running to the Ranger's room. He couldn't hear him breathe. Lynn was hot on his heels. 

Berrigan came to a stop next to Farrel's bed. 

The Ranger frantically searched for a heartbeat but, for the second horrifying time that day, he couldn't find any. It was terrifying, and he immediately started a heart massage again. They couldn't lose him, no, not yet. Farrel was still young and had his whole life ahead of him. 

Lynn couldn't do anything but watch and pray, just like a few hours before. She was wide-eyed and tears were flowing down her face. Again. Just after she had somewhat calmed down. 

This time, however, Farrel started breathing again quickly. Berrigan wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked at his friend. 

"You're giving us quite a scare tonight, ain't you?" he asked with a tired smile. Farrel didn't answer. Typical. 

Honestly, Berrigan didn't even notice when Lynn left the room. At least until he heard a noise from the kitchen. The Ranger stood up immediately. He remembered the numbness in her eyes, and how she eyed sharp things in the kitchen. Hurriedly, he went after her. 

He was lucky. Lynn stood in front of the sink, washing the coffee mugs. She desperately needed something to do, be it as simple as washing the dishes. Maybe, she supposed, she could start with their dinner. Lynn frowned and stopped washing the mug. Dinner? Was it really dinnertime? It felt like a lifetime to her, being up in the darkness of the storm, having just the fire to see, and taking care of Tess and Farrel. She was properly hungry too. And tired. She couldn't wait to go to sleep, but she didn't know if she would be able to fall asleep. At least, sleep without nightmares. 

Berrigan came a few steps closer, seeing her hang her head and look at the mug in her hands. She didn't look good. 

"Lynn, are you alright?" he asked, not knowing what his words could cause. 

The girl didn’t look at him, but the question - one simple question - broke her down. She started sobbing uncontrollably. Lynn was shaking all over. 

It was all her fault that Tess and Farrel were injured and now laying in bed, not moving or saying anything. She shouldn't have let the Rangers separate them. Tess would've never got her arm pierced. She and Berrigan wouldn't have run after her. And Farrel. Lynn knew that if he didn't push her out of the way, she'd be dead. It was, effectively, her fault that he got injured. If only she had been more cautious… Lynn put one hand to her face to wipe the tears but she was sobbing so violently that it was impossible to wipe them off. 

Berrigan walked to her, took the mug out of her hand, put it on the counter, and pulled her into a hug. Immediately, she put her arms around his back and buried her face in his tunic. Berrigan held her steady and stroked her back in small circles to calm her down. It didn't really work as Lynn gasped for breath. 

“I-it’s a-all m-my f-f-fault!” she cried, making his uniform wet with her tears. The Ranger didn't mind. He didn't make usual irritated comments like he did when he was tired and hungry. This was probably the girl's first time seeing someone wounded, and so severely at that, and moreover, because of her. For once, he understood that Lynn needed some support and with Tess fast asleep in her bed, he was the only person able to give it to her.

The girl shook her head, her face still buried in the fabric of his tunic. She felt so guilty for everything and would never be able to forgive herself. Maybe yes, if Farrel and Tess ever woke up. But, if one of them didn't survive the injury… Lynn truly wouldn't want to live with herself. For a brief moment, her eyes trailed to the door where the Rangers stored their quivers full of sharp arrows. Berrigan followed her gaze and saw what she was looking at. The Ranger paled slightly - not that it was visible in the dim light. No, he didn't need another injured person. He needed Lynn to help him take care of the two injured friends. 

“Come now, it’s not your fault Lynn,” the man said softly and pushed her gently out of the embrace. He was all nervous on the inside. Calming down upset girls and Basic Psychology 101 wasn't included in the Apprentice Ranger package. He had no idea how to calm her down. But he had to try. 

“Look at me,” he ordered and Lynn did as she was told, her eyes all red. She sniffed. She didn't want to look at him. She didn't want to see any Ranger ever again. If she never met a Ranger in this past era, this would've never happened. Gosh, she was so sorry that she and Tess ever bought those friendship bracelets. Without them, they'd be happily at home, going back to school, and preparing for exams. Nevertheless, Lynn did look at Berrigan. 

“It’s not your fault at all, you hear me? You can blame those bastards for hurting our friends.” 

"B-but I c-could've done m-more. I c-could've p-protected Farrel," she sobbed again. "A-and T-Tessie… s-shouldn't have l-let her g-go with you a-alone. S-she was in the s-same d-danger." Berrigan looked at her and, after a moment's hesitation, he put his hand on Lynn's head and started stroking her hair to calm her down. Indeed, Lynn's sobbing subsided, replaced by an incessant sniffing. 

He saw that she calmed down a bit and he wiped the last tears away from under her eyes. 

Berrigan put his hands on Lynn's shoulders and looked her in the eye. 

"Lynn, really. It's not your fault. Farrel could've let you die, but he didn't. He knew what he was getting into when he became an apprentice Ranger. He saved you because he wanted to, not from obligation," he said calmly, but not letting go of her. 

"And Tess. She is a strong girl. She will bounce back," he continued and Lynn nodded. She knew that Tess was strong but all things considered, in the middle ages, she had already proven that she wasn't able to take their enemies on. And now she was wounded. 

Lynn looked at Berrigan, a silent question "How would you know?" in her eyes. The Ranger smiled sadly. 

"We weren't attacked once, but twice, Lynn," he started explaining kindly. "My hands were tied in the first attack and I couldn't do anything to help Tess, but she defended herself quite well, and got rid of her attacker all on her own. She is strong, Lynn. Even if she wasn't able to take Farrel on, she can and will use her knowledge." Lynn's eyes widened. She didn't know that they were attacked twice. No one had time to tell her. But, the girl knew, she was immensely proud of Tess. She must've got injured in the second attack when she went after Berrigan and didn't pay attention. 

"I… I didn't know that," she said, calming down more. Now, she could believe in Tess' abilities. She could trust her to get better again. 

"Well, now you know. And believe me, Tess will bounce back. She's agile like that," he smiled more, knowing he got Lynn's attention and that he had calmed her down successfully. 

But, the Ranger saw how Lynn eyed the arrows. He needed her to focus on something else, but he couldn't keep hugging her the whole night. And more, he was hungry and a small growl of the girl's stomach told him that she was too. 

He let go of her shoulders. "Lynn, how about you get us something to eat? Something small for the night, it's already late," he suggested and watched as Lynn looked up at him, surprised. 

"How late?" she asked, her eyes flicking to the window. It was dark outside, the whole cabin was illuminated just by the fire and some candles that were in the bedrooms, and the rain still hasn't stopped. 

Berrigan followed her gaze. "One hour until midnight," he replied. Lynn's jaw almost dropped. Were they really gone for so long? Or did the stitching take so long? Or even when she sat with Tess, did she stay there longer than she thought? 

"Eleven o'clock," she whispered. Berrigan didn't even bother to raise an eyebrow. He had long found out that the girls had some strange measurements of time. 

Lynn took a step back. Tess had told her what happened when Berrigan was hungry a week ago and she really didn't want to experience that. 

"I… I can prepare something," she said hastily, not wanting to anger the Ranger. Honestly, she was surprised that he was so kind to her these past few hours. He must've been dying of hunger. And a hungry Ranger was an irritated and _dangerous_ Ranger. 

Berrigan registered the tension in her voice. He sighed. He and Farrel really made the girls that scared, huh? 

"Lynn, you don't need to hurry that much. I am hungry and I'm sure you are as well but don't overextend yourself. It was a difficult and long day and neither of us had time to think about food. Prepare something small for both you and me, alright?" he said in a gentle tone. Needless to say, that amazed Lynn even more. But, as the Ranger said, neither of them had time to think about food. 

Lynn nodded. "I can make something," she said. She already had a dish in mind. If she could, she'd prepare them some tosti, a simple bread with ham and cheese, baked together. It was an easy food, it was quick, and - the most importantly - they wouldn't be hungry after eating it. 

"You can do that and I will check on Farrel and your friend, alright?" Berrigan said, letting go of her. He walked to the door, opened it, and saw that it was still raining cats and dogs. The thunder in the distance had come closer, which meant that there'd be a storm soon. He had no idea how the girls would react to a storm. He knew some people who were scared of them, and he hoped that neither of the girls was like that. 

When he closed the door, Berrigan skillfully took both quivers and hid them under his cloak. Nor he nor Farrel would need them in the following days. 

Lynn didn't notice anything out of place when she went for bread and made thin slices of ham and cheese to put them on the bread. At least, she didn't notice anything immediately. By the time she did, Berrigan had them hidden in a safe place in Farrel's bedroom. 

The Ranger did stay to watch how Lynn cut the meat and put the knife away. From the shadows, he observed a lot of things. Then, he came to the conclusion that he didn't know what the food she was preparing was. He only hoped that it'd be edible but the girl seemed so confident in preparing it that he decided not to worry about that. 

Farrel didn't show any signs of improvement, but, he didn't show any signs of worsening either. Berrigan sighed. He was glad for that.

Tess on the other hand, was awake when he came into the room. She had one eye opened and followed his movements as he stopped next to the bed. 

"How are you, Tess?" Berrigan asked, a warm smile on his face. The girl tried to shrug but moaned in pain immediately. 

"Pain. And tired," she got out. She spoke slowly and it seemed as though she had just woken up. 

"Where… Lynn?" she asked before she took one rusty breath. "Please." 

Berrigan sat down on the bed and Tess had to grit her teeth. 

"Don't speak so much, Tess. You need to rest. She- Lynn is alright," the Ranger said, "she's preparing something for dinner. And Farrel will be fine too." Berrigan couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed when Tess didn't ask how the wounded Ranger was doing. He kinda thought that she'd ask on her own, but he also understood that Tess and Farrel had a different relationship than Lynn and Farrel. After all, she wasn't the one whose life he had saved. 

However, Tess seemed satisfied with his answer. She nodded her head and closed her eyes. 

She could only hear Berrigan say: "Wait, Tess, I'll get you something to drink." Yet the girl didn't stay up to wait for her nice glass of water. She was too tired and sleep seemed like an amazing idea.

Berrigan saw that she had gone back to sleep, so he didn't even bother to get her the water. After all, there was only one bedside table and it was on her injured side. If she wanted to drink, she still would have to call for one of them. She couldn't drink with her injured arm. 

When the brown-haired Ranger came back to the kitchen, Lynn was almost done preparing their midnight snack. 

"Tess woke up," he said simply. Lynn jerked her head and made a move to go to the room where her friend lied, but Berrigan shook his head. 

"She went back to sleep," he added. Lynn's disappointed expression said everything he needed to know. She had just recovered from being Sad™ and was hit with more sadness. 

"She was asking for you," Berrigan said in an attempt to comfort the girl. "But she was too exhausted to keep awake. But believe me, Lynn, you were the first thing on her mind."

He couldn't have expected Lynn to start crying again. She was just too touched to form a sentence, she just sobbed and wiped it in her shirt. 

However, knowing that Tess was alright made Lynn calmer. She was able to finish preparing their tosti and served it on the table. Berrigan meanwhile took the task of making them _more_ coffee, because at least one of them would have to be awake and keep an eye on the two injured patients. 

The two of them ate their food in silence, much like they drank their coffee a while ago. Actually, the while ago had been almost an hour ago. Concerned about Farrel, they both lost track of time.

"This is really good, Lynn," Berrigan said after a few bites. The girl looked down at her lap, flattered. The Rangers didn't give out compliments. She didn't know how to react at all.

They had been chilling at the table, sipping their coffees, when a clap of thunder shook the whole cabin. Lynn shot up, alarmed. Berrigan would almost think that she was scared, but then she relaxed and drank from her mug again. 

“Not scared of thunderstorms, Lynn?” Berrigan remarked with a small smirk. The girl smiled. 

“Thunderstorms are great!” she exclaimed happily. “I love them, they’re very calming.” She sipped her coffee while the Ranger breathed in relief. If the storm could calm her down, that would be a perfect solution. 

Berrigan’s wishes were in vain, for a few minutes later, a scream sounded through the whole cabin. Lynn shot up from her chair immediately, knocking over the mug. Thank God there was no coffee left. 

“That was Tess!” she cried, her eyes widening in fear. No, Tess had to be okay, she just had to be. She left Berrigan there and ran to the bedroom where her friend was. 

What she saw shocked her. The bedsheets were red with blood. Tess was tossing and turning in the bed, mumbling something. Tears were flowing down from her closed eyes. To Lynn, it was obvious. Tess was having a nightmare and ripped her stitches. 

In the dim light, Lynn hurried to her and climbed onto the bed to pin her friend down by her shoulders. 

“No, no, no!” Tess cried from her sleep, her eyes still closed. “Lemme be, I don’t wanna die yeeeet!” She started to cry more and Lynn had no idea what to do. She had to help her somehow, wake her up or at least get her injured arm to be still. 

Berrigan also got to the room and saw what was happening. 

“Oh no,” he sighed, knowing that he’d have to stitch the girl up. Again. Really, this night was just cursed. First Farrel stopped breathing for some time and now Tess ripped off her stitches. 

“Lynn, we have to wake her up,” he ordered and the auburn-haired girl tried to think of something. She carefully let go of Tess’ shoulder and stroked her hair. 

“Nooo don’t eat meee,” her friend cried. Lynn put her hand back, shocked. Tess usually calmed down after having her hair stroked. 

“Tess, it’s me, Lynn!” she said, a tear of her own sliding down her cheek. “Wake up, please, little sister.”

While Tess didn’t wake up as Lynn would wish, she seemed to calm down. She was no longer crying, instead falling back into an uneasy sleep while whimpering from time to time. However, her wound was still bleeding. 

“Lynn, I have to stitch her up again. Go put a few more logs into the fireplace, get some more candles, my medical kit, and a bowl of water,” he ordered with a strict tone. “Hurry.”

Lynn didn’t wait for him to say that she should hurry. She knew very well that she had to. The girl jumped out of the bed, running to the kitchen to prepare the surgery room. Berrigan stayed behind so he could carry Tess over. 

He did so as quickly as he could. Lynn meanwhile got all the things he asked for, setting more candles around so he'd have light and space. 

Berrigan prepared the needle and thread with skilled precision, yet, before he had the chance to plunge the sharp thing into Tess' flesh, there was a raspy cough coming from Farrel's bedroom. The Ranger looked up, then looked at Tess. 

Deciding on a solution, he stood up and put the needle into Lynn's hands. 

"I have to check on him, you stitch her up," he ordered, hurrying off before Lynn could protest. She wanted to see if the Ranger was alright, but Tess was still bleeding and she needed to take care of her. Her friend was still sleeping peacefully, dried tears glistened on her face, but she wasn't moving in her sleep. 

She didn't even stir when Lynn cleaned her wounds again to disinfect them before the painful procedure. Lynn didn't complain; it was easier than fighting with her. 

The real hell came when she started stitching her friend up. Tess moaned in pain and opened one eye, keeping the other tightly closed. 

"I'm sorry Tessie, it will only take a second," she said while making the third stitch. Berrigan appeared in the door and Lynn stopped and looked up at him. She was curious about how Farrel was doing. 

"Farrel is alright," Berrigan said, keeping his arms crossed on his chest, leaning against the doorframe. "He didn't stop breathing this time, just a couple of raspy breaths."

Lynn could almost feel how a weight fell off her shoulders. He was fine. Now she had to make sure Tess would be fine. She looked down at her friend and as she was about to continue stitching her up, a bolt of lightning illuminated the whole room. 

As ill-luck would have it, it was the moment Tess woke up. She sat up, her breaths raspy, and screamed. 

“Mooooonster!” Her eyes were wide open in fear, sweat glistening on her forehead. By sitting up, she pushed her arm right onto the needle and screamed in pain again. With her healthy arm, she moved to push Lynn backwards. 

_Tess had been having a nightmare. She was once again back in the forest, looking around herself and trying her best to spot an attacker should one be hiding in the bushes. It was dark, the sky wasn’t dark blue as it usually was, instead, it was pitch black with no stars. The forest was illuminated by a crimson hue. Tess shivered. It was such a scary sight._

_Berrigan was nowhere to be seen and she was beginning to think that everything could be alright. It just looked scary, right? She carefully started making her way towards the cabin - or, at least the way she thought the cabin was - and desperately tried not to shake… until there was some noise in the bushes right next to her._

_She stopped, unsure of how to proceed. She was frozen on the place in fear, her eyes wide with terror, and she slowly turned her head to the left so she could see what was causing the noise. Until she was pinned down from the right._

_Tess shouted. She didn’t expect the_ thing _to come from there. Horrified, she realized that there were two of these_ things _. It wasn’t even a human, it was a monster that pinned her down. Its claws were sharp and the eyes were crimson. And then, then it buried its razor-sharp claws into her arm, its white teeth glistening in the red hue and Tess screamed, opening her eyes_. 

But, she thought, she still wasn’t free from her nightmare. There was indeed a silhouette, illuminated by lightning, that crouched over her and was creating all that pain. 

Crying out, Tess managed to push Lynn off of her and wanted to stand up, but was pinned down by Berrigan who hurried to catch her before she managed to hurt herself even more.

“Noooo, let go of me, monster!” Tess cried, squirming as she fought against his grip. She could recognize neither Lynn nor Berrigan - she was still partially in her nightmare. She saw the two of them as the monsters who had attacked her in the dream realm and she wasn’t about to give up. Not without a fight. 

She kicked and screamed and managed to undo the stitches Lynn had already made. 

“Lemme go! I don’t wanna die yet,” she cried, fat tears sliding down her cheeks. At that moment, Berrigan succeeded in pinning Tess down again and managed to sit on her chest. 

“Lynn, the needle,” he said, reaching out with his arm. The girl hesitated but gave it to him, looking down at her terrified friend. 

“Get a glass of water. There’s a bag with white powder in my bag. Take it and put a handful of it into her drink,” he ordered her. He saw how Lynn’s eyes widened. She was supposed to help drug her friend? No, no, she didn’t want that. She wanted no part in this. Surely there could be some other way.

Berrigan, however, was stressed and irritated, because Tess was strong and he had problems keeping her on the floor. 

“Do it!” he barked at her and Lynn jumped and hurried to fulfill his orders, even though she didn’t like it one bit. Tess didn’t deserve that. Yet, she mused as she filled the glass with water, it might have been the best solution for her. She’d fall asleep, they’d close the wound and Tess would sleep dreamlessly until the next day. 

With a heavy heart, Lynn got a fistful of the powder and put it into the water. She hurried to get it back to Berrigan, and the Ranger forcefully managed to get Tess to sit up and, when she ignored his order to open her mouth, he forcefully gripped her jaws and forced her mouth open. 

“Get her to drink, Lynn, fast,” he said and Lynn, terrified of the whole situation and fear for her friend, put the glass to her lips. Right now, she was glad for biology lessons and poured the drink into Tess’ mouth slowly, so that she could swallow. She knew that her friend would swallow. 

Forcing Tess to drink the full contents of the glass wasn’t that easy, she still fought but became subdued as she drank it all. Lynn knew from experience that the drug the Rangers used was strong and she got a handful of it, it must’ve been this quick to act. 

“Whew, she’s no angel,” Berrigan said when he laid a snoozing Tess back on the floor. The girl managed to put up a good fight, even punched him into his shoulder one time, and Berrigan was sure that he’d have a bruise there. 

“I’ll stitch her up, Lynn,” he said, grasping Tess’ arm and washing the wounds again. Unsure, Lynn didn’t know what to do but saw that her friend was still fighting the drug. It made her numb but she still kept her eyes open. Quietly, she sat next to her head and pulled it on her lap. 

Tess whimpered. She couldn’t help it. She was still seeing monsters, and despite Lynn gently stroking her hair, she was panicking. Moreover, there was pain again. In her arm. She just wanted to sleep. Looking up at Lynn, she whimpered once more and then closed her eyes. Maybe, she thought, if I keep my eyes closed, the monsters won’t get me. 

Tess didn’t have to worry about monsters though. When she closed her eyes, she stopped fighting the drug and it took full effect. She knew no more. 

Lynn watched as Berrigan stitched up Tess’ wounds. Again. She kept stroking her hair. Tess didn’t whimper anymore, the drug knocked her out completely. Maybe it was for the better. Lynn knew that like this, Tess would be able to get some sleep. 

Berrigan was the one who carried Tess to her bed. Lynn trailed after him, but after seeing that he didn’t do anything to her, she went back to the living room and got herself a glass of water as well. She never registered that the last remains of the powder lingered at the bottom. 

Lynn wanted to go to Tess’ room. She finally felt the exhaustion from the day’s events get to her. Her legs felt so heavy, she could barely keep her eyes open and a big yawn made its way to her mouth. All in all, she was ready for bed, yet she kept stubbornly trying to stay awake. 

The girl barely managed to get to Tess’ room and sit down on the bed when her eyes finally closed and she fell on the bed, right next to Tess. 

Berrigan, who was watching her carefully, shook his head. 

“Good for you, Lynn. You deserve the rest,” he whispered, smiling sadly. “You had a difficult day as well.” 

Standing up, the Ranger got Lynn’s legs onto the bed as well and tucked them both under one blanket. Lynn immediately curled up into a ball and put her head close to Tess’. Berrigan stood there in the shadows, watching for a few seconds before he turned to go and make himself more coffee. He’d need it if he planned to spend the whole night keeping watch over Farrel.

It was almost morning when Lynn started to stir. Her rest was uneasy, the last day’s events were getting to her in the form of a nightmare. She desperately needed comfort. 

_Lynn was back. She hated it so much, she didn’t want to be there. It was scary. The day’s events replayed in her head, making her feel scared and abandoned._

_And then, Tess appeared on the meadow. She was alright, and Lynn sighed in relief. Her friend was fine, she was curiously looking around the place. Noticing Lynn, she raised her arm and waved, a big smile on her face._

_“Lynnie!” she called and began to run towards her… before she was shot down. The arrow buried itself deep in her chest. Lynn opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She was frozen in place as she watched how Tess didn’t even have time to yelp in pain, her eyes just rolled back into her skull and she dropped on the ground dead. The arrow shot right through her heart, she didn’t have any chance._

_Finally, Lynn found her voice._

_“No! Tessie!” she screamed in despair, running to her friend. She dropped on her knees next to her. She had to find if Tess was alive, yet she knew very well that she’d been dead from the very moment the arrow hit her._

_“No, no, no, no!” she kept crying as she hugged Tess’ corpse close._

The real Lynn tossed on the bed, trying to reach and hug Tess who was sleeping (not so) peacefully next to her. However, the real Tess was having none of it. The drug was beginning to wear off and her nightmare about monsters continued. And, right now with Lynn trying to reach her, she felt like it was the monster attacking her yet again. 

“No, please, lemme be,” she whimpered, trying to push Lynn away. Fortunately, neither of the girls woke up, otherwise, they would both feel pretty terrible - Lynn for being called a monster and being pushed away by her best friend, and Tess for pushing Lynn away while she, in fact, longed for physical contact. 

Lynn kept trying to reach Tess in her sleep. She didn’t want to let go, and when she managed to grasp the sleeping girl’s arm, it became a bit too much for Tess. Yelping out in pain, she unconsciously shot forwards with her elbow, hitting Lynn in her face. 

“Ow!” Lynn woke up, tears in her eyes. Gods, it hurt so much! She kept one eye closed, it hurt to even try to open it and see what was going on. Lynn had no idea what happened, but, going by Tess’ constant pushing her to the edge of the bed, she was presuming that her friend did it accidentally. Until she heard her mumbling.

“No, please. Go away,” Tess whimpered, still fast asleep. Lynn’s vision clouded with tears. She wasn’t able to think clearly, recognize that she was stuck in her nightmare. Tess… didn’t want her there. 

All the noise attracted Berrigan, who came into the room, holding a candle. 

“Lynn, what happened?” he asked when he saw that she was awake. Instead of answering, Lynn just furrowed her brows and started to cry. She wept like a small child, getting out of the bed to go and hug the Ranger. 

Berrigan didn’t push her away, but also made no move to hug her back. He held up the candle. 

“Lynn, did something happen to Tess?” he asked. His innocent question only made Lynn cry more. She was broken, broken by her friend’s simple unconscious action. 

Tess didn’t even stir while Lynn sobbed. She was still knocked out cold by the drug and was breathing rapidly. 

Lynn never told Berrigan what happened, yet the Ranger deduced that something must’ve happened, going by Lynn’s swollen face, that would definitely leave a bruise, and he took the girl gently by her shoulders and guided her to the couch. 

He made a quick trip to the pantry and got a jug of milk. 

“Here, put that to your face,” he ordered Lynn, who was still sobbing violently, and she took the jug with shaking hands and put it to her face. Immediately, she jerked away. It was cold! But, under Berrigan’s watchful gaze, she put it back again. The Ranger kept his hand on her shoulder, hoping it would calm the girl down - and, after a while, she really did calm down, but still pressed the jug against her face. 

“What… what time is it?” she asked when she trusted her voice enough not to break. Berrigan smiled slightly, glad that she was (probably) feeling better. 

“I’d say it’s time for breakfast,” he said, nodding towards the window. Lynn followed his gaze and saw that, indeed, there was light. The sunlight penetrated trees that were still wet from the thunderstorm, illuminating the inside of the cabin slightly. Lynn sighed. How on earth did she fall asleep? She almost started crying again; she never wanted to sleep that night. The girl wanted to keep an eye on Tess and Farrel, but… In that moment, Lynn knew why she didn’t last. She drank from the same glass as Tess did! There must’ve been some leftover drug left in it. 

Lynn closed her eyes sadly. Tess… she didn’t want her there. She was scared of her. The knowledge alone broke her heart once again. Tessie, her best friend, she attacked her. Lynn sighed, fresh tears sliding down her face. Deep down, she knew that Tess had done that unintentionally, in the heat of a nightmare, but she felt hurt and abandoned. 

Shifting her gaze to the kitchen, she saw Berrigan preparing breakfast and their morning coffee. Lynn shook her head and felt how the tears on her face flew into the sides. She was pathetic, really. Crying over a simple thing like this. 

Still holding the jug of milk, now quite warm as her face wasn’t the coldest thing out there - rather, it was pretty warm as a bruise started forming there, she walked to the Ranger. Lynn stopped a few feet behind him and looked around, unsure. Usually, she was the one preparing breakfast. What happened?

“How’s Farrel doing?” she asked, putting the jug of milk on the counter. Berrigan looked up from grinding the coffee beans and smiled, warmly this time. 

“He survived the night without any more accident,” he said, a happy subtone in his voice. “He will live, Lynn.” 

Needless to say, that was the brightest news of the day and it made Lynn so tremendously happy. She almost bounced, happy that the Ranger was out of danger. And, she knew, Tess would live too. 

The two of them ate their breakfast in relative silence. Berrigan did ask what happened at night but Lynn was unable to give him a clear answer. It worried the Ranger greatly. He needed to return for the man he tied up to a tree when Tess was shot, but he had no idea, no guarantee that Lynn would be safe if he left the cabin. He had virtually no choice though; he needed to take care of the bodies and the prisoner, otherwise, they’d give some poor villager quite a scare. 

He knew Lynn had gone to check on Farrel. He didn’t expect her to do much, the Ranger was still sleeping after yesterday. He was very weak and lost quite a lot of blood and needed the rest. 

He, on the other hand, went to check on Tess. To his surprise, the girl was once again conscious and kept watching him curiously. 

“Morning, Tess,” Berrigan smiled. “How did you sleep?” In response, Tess just shook her head.

“Nightmares,” she replied simply. Berrigan nodded in understanding. Of course, the girl would get nightmares. He did see how she behaved during the night when he needed to stitch her up again. She kept calling them monsters. 

“Where’s Lynnie?” Tess asked, looking at the door like she expected her friend to come any second. Berrigan stood still. He wasn’t sure if Lynn would want to see her friend, not after this morning’s events. But, he wanted to keep Tess happy, so he offered to ask her. 

Coming out of the room, he called: “Lynn! Tess would like to speak with you!” 

The Dutch girl hurried out of Farrel’s room but stopped on the porch with a scared expression. She wanted to see her friend so desperately, but she didn’t want another black eye. She was conflicted. Tess needed her, but she was also the one to cause her such pain. 

“I…” Lynn shook her head, once again on the verge of tears. “I can’t.” 

She hung her head and hurried back to Farrel’s room. A second later, soft cries could be heard coming from there. Berrigan shook his head helplessly. What would he tell Tess? That Lynn was out? No, he decided. He couldn’t do that. Tess surely heard Lynn’s voice. She knew that her friend was inside. It would break her heart, but the truth was the best, Berrigan decided. 

Coming back to the room, he felt a sting of guilt as Tess looked at him, so hopeful. Yet he had to tell her. 

“Lynn doesn’t want to see you right now,” he told her and watched as the girl’s expression became confused. Tess furrowed her brows. Did she do something wrong?

“Lynnie… doesn’t want to see me?” she asked in a small voice, first tears forming in her eyes. Her best friend didn’t want to know how she was doing? 

Berrigan had to shake his head again. “No, Tess, she doesn’t want to,” he confirmed with a heavy heart. The Czech girl had to clench her teeth to swallow down a sob. 

“I-is s-she… is she a-alright?” she asked between tears. The Ranger nodded. Lynn was fine - apart from some sad thoughts and the nice black eye, courtesy of Tess herself. 

“Yes, Lynn is fine,” he said, watching as the girl burst into tears. Tess curled up on her healthy side, away from Berrigan. Away from the whole world. Between her own sobs, she noticed an irregular pattern. It didn’t come from her. It sounded like… Tess started crying more, shaking violently. Somehow, she made Lynn cry. She made her bestie cry and didn’t know why. She hurt her friend. The girl kept crying until she cried herself to sleep, knowing that she was such a trash human. 

In Farrel’s room, Lynn was well aware of the fact that she made Tess cry. Really, she didn’t hold a grudge, she knew that Tess had no control of her actions, but it made Lynn scared of her. And the knowledge made her feel like a bad friend. Tess was crying because of her. 

She didn’t know how long she had spent there crying her eyes out, but Berrigan came to get her. It must’ve been late morning because the sun was high on the sky and the whole cabin was warm from the sun rays attacking its roof. 

“Lynn, it’s almost noon, and I want you to do something for me,” he spoke gently as not to scare her or, Gods forbid, make her cry. “If you start with the lunch, I will go to the castle, get some soldiers to carry those men away, and then we will have something to eat, okay?” He knew that Lynn had been distressed these past hours, so he made sure to speak softly and slowly. He didn’t want her to do anything impulsive while he was gone, even though he knew that he would hurry as much as he could (that was sometimes impossible, as people were left waiting at the Castle for quite a long time nowadays). 

Lynn nodded and asked what he wanted her to make. The Rangers always had such high demands for their food, however, she wasn’t prepared for his answer. 

“You may choose that. I’m sure you’ll make us something delicious!” Lynn had to blink because surely she didn’t hear that right, did she? He let her have the freedom to do whatever dish she wanted? Wasn’t Berrigan the one who was sick? 

Before the sun was too high, Berrigan let Lynn go to the stables to help him prepare his mare for the ride. While he was at home, he wanted to keep an eye on her. Farrel and Tess could survive alone for ten minutes, especially since they were sleeping. 

Lynn proved to be quite skilled with horses, she was doing things mechanically but efficiently, and soon, Whistle was nice and clean and she continued to give a quick brush down to Nicker. 

While Berrigan prepared the saddle and bridle, Lynn quickly cleaned the mare’s hooves so the Ranger could tack her up and go. 

To Berrigan, though, it felt as if she wanted him gone. She went through the tasks so quickly that he wasn’t even sure about leaving her there alone anymore. But he had to go. At that moment, Berrigan decided to do his duties as quickly as he humanely could, so that he could return fast and keep an eye on things.

“I will be back for lunch,” he promised Lynn when he mounted Whistle. He waited for the girl’s confirmation before nudging the horse and riding off to the castle. Before he rode into the woods, he looked back to see Lynn still standing on the spot he left her at. 

When he was gone, Lynn took the liberty to return to the cabin, especially the pantry and took a closer look at what was around.

She was vibing with soup rather than a complete meal. She looked at the meat available and found some chicken. Farrel had a well-supplied pantry, yet she was happy with what she found. She took the chicken and also collected some herbs, and chose vegetables; carrots, leek, onion, and garlic. 

She would cook that first, then use the broth to cook the chicken in it and would finish the soup by adding the cooked vegetables. 

Satisfied, Lynn went back to the cabin to get to work. It was high time to start with lunch. She put some wood in the stove and then lit it. While waiting until the fire was big enough, she washed everything. Lynn hesitated when it was time to cut it. She opened the drawer with cutlery and took out the sharpest knife. The one Tess accidentally cut herself with a few days ago. Lynn stood still and her eyes glazed the sharp edge. Did she have enough guts to do it? 

Lynn shook her head. No. She couldn't. It was wrong, she knew. It would be wrong of her to cut herself. But she was scared of the blade. She was scared of what all she could do with it in her current state. Berrigan had been right to worry. She didn't even trust herself. 

Yet the urge was too strong. Lynn didn't even realize what she was doing. She lifted the pants and made two quick cuts on her ankles. Then, the girl realized what she was doing. It was as if she came back into reality. 

"What… what am I doing?" she asked herself with a terrified voice. No, she couldn't. It was wrong. She would just make everyone worry. Shaking, Lynn threw the knife aside. It landed against the wall with a muffled "thud". With her hands, she gripped the ankle. 

It wasn't a big wound, the cuts were just shallow but it horrified her. 

"What have I done?" Lynn spoke to no one in particular and her eyes widened in fear. She had… she had just self-harmed! The girl started sobbing uncontrollably. She knew that she was always different, but, she always refuses to believe that she could have mental problems. Her body and mind were strong, she knew. But after two weeks here, her spirit was completely broken. Lynn couldn't believe that after all this time, she would crumble down so easily. 

The girl knew she had to take care of the cuts. She had to hide them, hide such shame. Fortunately, Lynn now knew where Berrigan stored the medical kit. She hopped there, hoping that blood drops didn't make a trail after her. 

Lynn quickly sat down and pressed on the bleeding wounds, and she was very relieved when it stopped after a few minutes. She cleaned the wounds quickly, biting down on her tongue in pain and put on the salve. Now, she looked at the result, it looked almost like nothing had happened. The salve was so thick it could act as a make-up. 

Lynn still felt the stinging sensation, but there was nothing she could do about it. She quietly cursed. That was such a stupid thing to do! How could she even think of doing that? 

Frantically, Lynn realized that Tess, Farrel, and Berrigan would never get to know about this. It was surely just this one time, right?

Moaning quietly in pain, she stood up from the floor. She had lunch to make. Fortunately, she discovered that she could still stand normally, now only if she could act as well as to hide the pain that shot through her foot. 

Lynn limped into the kitchen. She had to continue with the work she'd been given yet she struggled to pick up the knife, wash it and continue with cutting the vegetables. Who knew what… what she'd be able to do this time. But, she knew that she had no choice. With trembling hands, Lynn grasped the knife and washed it, then cut the vegetables as quickly as she possibly could, and put them in a bowl. She filled the pan with water and placed it on the pit, heated it, and then added the vegetables. While it was cooking, Lynn sat as far away from the knife. From any sharp things. She didn't trust herself with them. Maybe she could go check on the patients? But no, she shook her head, first, she had to do this. 

Once the vegetables were almost ready, she took them out with a spoon, put them in a clean bowl, and then put the chicken in the water. She left it there and decided, that now it would be a good time to check on Farrel and Tess, see if they were doing alright. Standing in front of the door of Tess' room, she had to give herself a pep talk. She really needed that. Somehow, she was still scared of her best friend, there, deep down in her heart. 

“Come on, Lynn, it’s just the mental instability, pull yourself together,” she said to herself before taking a deep breath and entering Tess’ bedroom. 

Tess was awake. She curiously turned her head to see who had just entered the room. As soon as she saw the familiar figure of her friend, she almost started crying again. She remembered vividly how Lynn refused to see her in the morning. 

"Hey Tess," Lynn said awkwardly, not knowing how to make this situation easier. The girl smiled before she took in her friend's appearance. She looked terrible. Like she barely slept, her eyes were all red and puffy from crying, but what was worse… there was an enormous bruise on her cheek. Tess gasped. 

"Who…Who did that to you, Lynnie?" she asked in terror. Lynn shivered when she was called by her nickname. 

"Was it Berrigan?" Tess asked again. She remembered that Lynn had nothing like that on her face the last day. Lynn remained silent but shook her head just slightly. 

Tess' eyes widened. "Then who…? She was confused. As far as she knew, Berrigan was the only one in the house who would be able to do such a thing. 

Lynn hung her head. 

"It was you, Tess." 

At that moment, it was almost as if the world stopped for Tess. She… did that? She did that horrible thing to Lynnie? Now, Tess fully understood why her friend didn't want to see her. 

"Lynnie, I-" she started but never had the chance to finish. Lynn shook her head.

"Don't apologize, Tess, I know you didn't mean it," Lynn said, tears appearing in her eyes. "I… I'll get you some water."

She retreated into the kitchen, tears sliding down her face. She knew she had been incredibly rude to Tess, and knew that her friend would cry because of that, but she really couldn't make it easier for her. She wasn't feeling well and she felt very guilty for pushing her friend away like this. 

She filled a glass with water. Did she even want to return? To see her friend's tear-stained face? Lynn almost cursed herself. Tess needed something to drink. There was no need to be scared. Lynn knew that, but today… it just wasn't her day. 

Nevertheless, she returned. When she came inside, Tess looked away, big tears shining on her face. Lynn couldn’t help it but she looked down at her feet. It was her fault her friend was crying. She took a deep breath and went to the bed. 

“Tessie, I have a drink for you,” she said, surprised that her voice didn’t tremble anymore. She was grateful for that. Really, she saw that her friend was sorry for a thing she had no control over, and Lynn blinked. No, she wasn’t afraid of Tess. She wasn’t. It was just her mental instability. Tess was a sweetheart. She was always there for her. And Lynn would be there for her. 

“C’mon Tessie, I’m alright, see?” she tried to smile, and her friend indeed turned to her but buried her head in the pillow. 

“You don’t seem alright,” she mumbled. Lynn’s smile faltered and she sat on the bed and stroked her hair. 

“Tessie, you had a nightmare. I’m not mad at you, okay? I just wasn’t feeling very well in the morning,” she said, staying where she was until Tess cast a curious glance at her. Her eyes were full of tears and Lynn felt a sting near her heart. 

“But,” Tess’ lip trembled, “I heard you crying.” Lynn’s eyes widened in surprise. Did she hear that? 

The Dutch girl looked at her lap. “I admit, I was quite angry in the morning. But I know you didn’t do it willingly Tessie. I know it and that’s why I’m not angry anymore,” she explained, leaving out the part where she was scared of her own best friend. The friend who despised fighting yet tried to free her so many times. 

Tess eyed the glass of water and moved towards her, only to lay her head on Lynn’s lap. The girl smiled. Tess was calming down as she continued to stroke her hair. Finally, just before her breaths relaxed, she nudged her gently. 

“Tessie, how about you drink something and then try to sleep more?” she suggested and her friend nodded. She was dying of thirst. Grateful that she wanted to wet her throat with water, Lynn helped her sit up and drink. 

After she’d been through the whole glass, Tess smiled a sad smile, laid down (again with Lynn’s help), and fell asleep within seconds. She didn’t even have the time to yawn, she was asleep before her head even hit the pillow. Lynn smiled and left the room. 

Farrel was still sleeping deeply, not even wincing when the door opened or noticing that Lynn had come closer to feel his head. He was completely out. Lynn wasn’t even surprised. The important thing was that he had no further relapses and no higher temperature. He was the one who could develop it, but so far, that wasn’t the case. And that was very promising for his recovery. 

Berrigan had been gone for almost an hour now when she heard Nicker neighing. She froze on the spot, all kinds of thoughts running through her head. What if the murderer came back to finish what he started? Lynn’s knees became weak and she had to grasp the couch to keep herself upright, fearing that it would be the attacker. But then she heard another neigh, and the girl relaxed slightly and fell on the couch. She knew it was Whistle. Ranger horses did greet each other in such a way, after all. She had heard this sound a few times before during the past week, and Lynn was dumbfounded. Why didn’t she recognize it? Shaking her head, she stood up. That didn’t matter. The soup was ready, and she quickly checked how her ankle looked. It was fine, but, to be sure, she lowered the waistband of her pants so her ankles would be covered by the fabric. She hurried to open the door and Berrigan approached the verandah. 

“I will bring Whistle to the stall and then came inside to see what you made,” he called to her from a distance. Lynn nodded; she didn’t expect anything else. The Rangers always cared for their horses the first thing whenever they returned. 

Berrigan dismounted when he was close enough, took the reins, and led his horse to the warm stable, where he brushed her dry and rewarded her with an apple. The mare always enjoyed such nice care, it made her coat shine in the sun. 

“You deserve it,” the Ranger said, patting Whistle’s neck gently. The horse whinnied when he did so, and she lovingly pressed her muzzle to his cheek. Then, Berrigan left her to socialize with Nicker as he left to taste what Lynn made. 

A delicious smell reached his nose as soon as he opened the front door. He hung his cloak on the hook and took off his boots and placed them in front of the fireplace. He saw the girl standing in front of the stove, a ladle in her hand, a bowl in the other, as she prepared to serve food.

“I hope you’re hungry, I made us some soup,” Lynn said, carrying her culinary masterpiece to the table. She gave him the bowl and a spoon when he was comfortably sitting there. Lynn sat down as well. Her ankle hurt. She didn’t want to stand any longer, yet she knew that she’d have to get up to get a bowl of soup for herself. The thing was, she wasn’t truly hungry. She still felt empty, as if the sadness came back when the Ranger returned. However, Lynn sat down and waited patiently until he would make a comment on her work. 

“First of all, it smells wonderful!” Berrigan said, holding the bowl close. That was a good thing, Lynn thought, but now the taste… She hoped that she didn’t appear nervous. She knew she was acting silly, but Lynn was terrified that Berrigan would know just from a simple look that something happened. Rangers were observant like that. However, he seemed to focus only on food right now. 

He put his spoon in the bowl, blew on the liquid, and ate it. He closed his eyes and sighed. 

“Be careful Lynn, as soon as the other two taste this, it’ll be all they’ll want. It’s very well cooked.” The compliment made her cheeks turn red. Lynn wasn’t used to getting compliments. She was usually this unnoticeable person who didn’t get many of them. She hid her red cheeks in her shoulder as she got up to take her own bowl and fill it.

When she went to the pot, a pain in her ankle announced itself and Lynn made a slight limp. That was very, very noticeable, and Berrigan did notice, for he asked: “Are you alright, Lynn?” 

The girl smiled awkwardly. Inside, she was panicking. How could she justify that? 

“I’m alright, just stepped wrong,” she explained. Technically, she wasn’t lying. But she also wasn’t telling the truth. She did step on the foot wrong so her ankle was in pain. Berrigan nodded understandingly - things like that happened, after all - and went back to his soup. Lynn inwardly sighed in relief and she hurried to sit down and eat her portion as well.

She spent the rest of the day doing chores. Berrigan came up with a whole list to keep her occupied and not to let herself be buried in sadness. 

Without Tess’ help, it would take much longer than if the two of them were doing the chores together, but Lynn didn’t mind. She was ordered to stay close to the cabin and not to go out all alone; there was still a possibility that one of the attackers would come back to finish his job. And, Lynn knew that she wouldn’t want to risk it. After all, she wouldn’t leave Tess alone with the Rangers. 

With a sigh, Lynn put the bucket down for a moment to take a breath before pouring the water in the rain barrel. She thought that (a dangerous activity), after such a thunderstorm, it had been filled up to the edge, but it was only half-filled. So she had to walk to the river, fill the bucket and return. It was a terrible job, even more so with the pain in her ankle. Lynn often had to stop to catch a breath. What should’ve lasted for at least fifteen minutes, took her more than half an hour. By now, she was sure that Berrigan would suspect something.

After that, she went inside to clean the fireplace. It was a long and dirty work and Lynn really didn’t enjoy it. She always ended up so dirty and had to go to the stream to wash the worst dirt and soot off. In the ice-cold water. Yeah, she disliked that so much.

After finally getting the soot off her forehead (and a lot of other body parts - it was the best she could ask for instead of a shower), she swept the floor. It wasn’t that dirty, but Lynn was feeling bored and she was afraid of what thoughts she might get if left alone. It was better than doing nothing and just waiting in terrified silence for some change in Farel and Tess’ condition. 

The girl had been awake from time to time. She woke up when Lynn was out fetching water. Berrigan was the one who tended to her. Of course, she was asking for her friend, but after getting an explanation, she obediently drank some water and even ate the soup. What she didn’t like was that Berrigan almost had to feed her, as she was right-handed and couldn’t hold the spoon with her left hand, but the girl resisted. She was _not_ going to be fed like a baby. Maybe she’d tolerate if Lynn were the one to feed her, but the Ranger? Hell no. As a result, she ate more than half of the soup, occasionally spilling some on herself when she couldn’t hold the spoon. But she was stubborn, barely commented on her clumsiness, and continued to eat. 

“It was delicious, tell the chef my compliments,” she said when she was finally done with the soup. She rested her head on her pillow, opened her mouth as to say something more, but, in the end, she closed her eyes and fell back asleep. She must’ve been truly exhausted and Berrigan didn’t blame her in the slightest. To recover, she needed all the sleep she could get. 

He also went to check on his friend, but Farrel was still sleeping. Berrigan wasn’t surprised. He was off far worse than Tess and almost died several times. He would need a lot of time to get better. But, the Ranger left a glass of water on the nightstand in case Farrel woke up and was thirsty. 

Berrigan noticed how Lynn was doing anything to have at least something on her hands - even more than he had told her to do (really, she didn’t like not doing anything) and decided that it was enough for the day. He saw how Lynn stammered on her feet from time to time, acting as if everything was fine. However, he thought it to be from the lack of sleep and stress. The poor girl was tired and needed some rest, so when he saw how once again, she swayed on her feet while sweeping the floor, he approached her. In this state, she would just hurt herself soon. And Berrigan himself was also quite tired and angry. 

_When he led the soldiers to take the men’s bodies to be buried, he wanted to arrest the one he tied to a tree when Tess was shot. He never returned for him last night. He was too worried about Farrel dying that he risked it. That morning, he saw that it was a mistake. The rope was cut and the man was nowhere to be seen. Berrigan pondered about that the whole ride back to the cabin. He and Farrel were foolish to underestimate the enemy. That shall never happen again. Now they knew that there were more than two men, but didn’t know the exact numbers. But, with the other Ranger bedridden and the girls defenseless, he had no choice but to stay close to the cabin. The murderer could return any time to finish his job._

Berrigan now saw just how exhausted Lynn was and set one hand on her shoulder. 

“You can give me that and then you can take a quick nap on the couch; you’ve been working a lot this morning and afternoon.” Lynn frowned. Afternoon? That didn’t sound right, they just had lunch, didn’t they? With a silent question in her eyes, she looked at the Ranger. 

Berrigan chuckled. He would never not be amused by some of the girls’ reactions.

“Yes, Lynn, _afternoon_. We’ll have dinner within two hours. And this time, I will be the one to make it.” He took the broom out of her hands and pushed her to the couch. ”You, on the other hand, will rest. You deserve it today.”

Lynn let herself be pushed to the couch but stopped when he said the last sentence. 

“Today?” she asked. “You sound like I don’t deserve it normally.” Berrigan just winked at her, a hint of playfulness in his eyes. 

“Of course you do,” he responded cheerfully. “C’mon on, get some rest. I’ll wake you when we’re gonna eat.”

Lynn didn’t want to sleep or rest. She was afraid of getting another nightmare, but even she couldn’t deny that she was tired to death. She opened her mouth and yawned before she had the chance to cover it, and she had to admit that Berrigan was right. She was tired and had barely slept last night (technically, she did get some hours of nightmare-filled sleep, but she still felt tired). The last day and this morning’s events had exhausted her a lot and to be honest, taking a nap sounded nice. Nothing could happen as long as Berrigan was there, right? She wasn’t at the risk of getting punched in the face again, at the most, she was at risk of falling off the couch.

As soon as she laid down on the couch (being overly careful not to lay on her bruised cheek), she felt how her body loosened the tension and, listening to Berrigan’s quiet humming as he went about his work, she fell asleep. 

While Lynn was far away in the dream realm (hopefully with no nightmares as she lay dead still and didn’t move for some hours), the Ranger cleaned the room and checked up on the patients. It was crucial that someone kept an eye on them, especially on this first day. He decided to look at Tess first and see how she was doing, then it would be Farrel’s turn.

Tess was laying in bed and tried to sleep, however, she couldn’t. The pain in her arm was too much and it kept her awake. To be honest, Berrigan expected that she would be awake. Yet she had never made a sound. Still, the Ranger smiled sadly when he saw her awake. He had had some injuries of his own in the past to know that you couldn’t sleep very well with a hellish pain shooting through your entire body. 

Tess was laying in the bed, not noticing that Berrigan came in. Well, he didn’t, he just slightly opened the door and looked inside. But the girl wished that someone would come. Preferably Lynn. Maybe she could ask for the salve? It smelled odd, but it did take the pain away. She had just closed her eyes for a moment when the door opened with a creaking sound. She looked up, expecting to see her friend, but it was Berrigan. She sighed when the Ranger came to her bed. She wanted to see Lynn, but also had an important question that would be best if answered by one of the Rangers. It was eating her up for the last hour and she couldn’t get rid of that thought.

“I see you’re awake. How do you feel?” he asked her, sitting on the bed, all the while being mindful not to put all of his weight on it, as he was sitting on the right side and it could cause Tess more pain. 

“Like shit,” she replied, making the man laugh. The girl gave him the nastiest glare she could muster. He was amused by her pain. If she could actually move, she’d have punched him, but Tess couldn’t. She knew that extra movement was just sheer stupidity. 

“I can imagine that. You’re lucky it hit your biceps and not your bone; that would’ve been more painful,” he said. Even though the arrow just narrowly missed her bone. Tess was truly lucky yesterday. But, laying in the bed, she didn’t realize just how much she was. 

Tess looked at the bandage on her arm, a concerned look on her face. It was now or never.

“Berrigan?” she demanded, glancing back at him. “Will I have problems when it’s healed?” She had heard about torn muscles and how gravely they affected normal life when healed. Would she be the same? Would there be lasting damage? 

The Ranger had to think about it for a moment. He had seen both sides, people who had a similar injury; some managed to get their strength back and barely had any problems, others weren’t that lucky and had to live with the damage. So far, he couldn’t predict which group would Tess belong to. He shrugged uncertainty. 

“I don’t know Tess, how it will turn out depends largely on the person,” he replied, very well aware that the girl had had enough shocks that day already and didn’t need another one. But Berrigan knew, just as much as Tess, that the truth was sometimes harsh. He could’ve lied to her, tell her that everything would be fine, when in fact that would be all it was - lying. It would be able to calm the girl down, but he knew Tess was strong and able to handle such news. He saw how she let her shoulders hang, as well as her head. The Ranger instantly regretted his decision, even though he knew it was the right one. The positive atmosphere changed into something downright terrible after the news. For a few minutes, neither of them spoke. Then, Berrigan took a deep breath.

“But don’t worry too much about it. As long as you take good care of yourself and get enough rest, it should be all fine. You’re a young woman, so I’m sure you won’t have any problems after it’s healed,” he said in an effort to cheer her up. Now, he wasn’t exactly lying, every word he told was the truth, but he intentionally left out that everything didn’t have to turn out fine. Things turned out just fine only in fairy tales. 

It seemed to work though for there was a small smile on the girl’s face that became bigger. She eyed her arm, now much more confident.

“Thank you, Berrigan, that’s just what I needed to hear,” she beamed at him. The Ranger sighed; the girl didn’t know even half the truth, but it was better than if she just broke down again. He definitely didn’t need her to break down, not after Lynn had major weakness moments throughout the entire day. 

Tess also asked if she could have something to eat, hoping that there was some soup left. When she had it last time, it was delicious, and since Farrel didn’t seem to be waking up, it was all hers. 

“You’ll let me feed you this time so there are no more spots on the bedding?” Berrigan teased her playfully. He knew how important it was to the girl, that she could eat by herself. 

Tess stuck out her tongue at him. “Never.”

“Well then, suppose I should get you that soup,” Berrigan’s eyes shined as he stood up and walked to the kitchen to fill a bowl for the girl. When he was out of sight, the girl dared to have a quick look into the living room. She stretched her neck muscles as she did so. She hissed in pain and rested her head on the pillow again. She couldn’t see it well, but she thought she saw Lynn laying on the couch? It did seem like Lynn, that is if she could recognize her friend in the big beige-brown lump that laid on the couch. 

A couple of minutes later, Berrigan returned with the soup, telling her that it wasn’t that hot, but still warm enough to burn her mouth if she didn’t pay attention. Tess nodded, once again clumsily setting it down on the bedding and trying to get the spoon into her mouth with her left hand. Between the bites, she nodded in the direction of her friend. 

“Is everything alright with Lynn?” she asked. Memories of last night were hazy and Tess knew that Lynn had a black eye in the morning when she had woken up. The Czech girl couldn’t remember if Lynn was hurt as well last night or if it was only her and Farrel who laid in bed completely useless. But Lynn looked so dead on the couch that she had to ask. Had to know if her friend was alright.

“Lynn’s very tired. After taking care of Farrel, she did some chores, but they only made her more exhausted than she already was. I told her to take a nap and I would take care of the rest,” he explained and Tess released a breath. Lynn was okay, just tired, that was good news. But still… Tess didn’t like how she exhausted herself with doing chores. She should’ve rested or do just the necessary things! 

The girl sighed and stared at the almost empty bowl. She no longer had the energy to eat the rest. The Ranger understood the hint and took it out of her hands, placing it on the nightstand. He would take it out of the room when he left, however, he didn’t have any plans for leaving just yet.

“Shall we have a look at your arm now?” he asked. It wasn’t a suggestion, Tess knew. This was an order, and she let herself be propelled up to a seating position.

The wound wasn’t bleeding that much anymore, so that was a good sign. Tess hissed in pain when Berrigan removed the bandage. However, it was a short-lived pain as he picked up the bowl with water which had been standing near the fireplace (and he managed to get it to the room with Tess' soup) and with a clean cloth, he whipped away the dried blood. The girl had to bite down on her tongue so she wouldn't cry out in pain. It still stung like crazy and she decided once and for all that she hated medieval medicine very much. 

After that, he checked if the stitches were still in their place and wrapped a new bandage around on the wound. The whole time, Tess stayed still and patiently waited until he was done. There was no use trying to evade him or avoid the treatment. Even Tess knew that much. 

"There, that's all for now," he patted her shoulder and stood up. He now had Farrel to check upon. Even if he were still sleeping, he'd need to change his bandage soon. For that, he would need Lynn. He couldn't do two things at once. 

Tess thanked him and laid down again. These small things made her exhausted and as Berrigan walked out of the room, the girl closed her eyes again. For the first time that day, she had no nightmares. 

In the room next to Tess, Farrel was finally getting awake. In his wake to consciousness, he shifted around a lot and felt an enormous pain in his side. The Ranger looked down, surprised, only to see a bandage. He furrowed his brows, completely bewildered by that. How did he get this injury? Was this why he was laying in bed right now? 

Suffering from a mild case of amnesia, Farrel looked up at the ceiling. What happened? He tried to recall the last day's events. That’s right, they set out to catch the murderer. And he was protecting Lynn and got this little parting gift. In his head, he cursed the attacker for it.

As he laid his head down on the pillow, he felt the bandage on his cheek, tied upon his head and he also tried to think about what happened again. It was difficult because everything hurt. He so wanted to go back to sleep, but he willed himself to stay awake. He wasn’t sure how many hours - or days, even - had passed, but from the light in the room, he would guess it was sundown. Which meant that he must’ve been unconscious at least for a whole day, possibly more. 

Thinking back to the last day, he knew that he had seen that the man take a shortcut and wait for the girl to kill her. Understandable. The girl was their main target, after all. 

Just as the arrow was flying through the air, he ran to Lynn and pushed her out of the way. The Ranger blinked as his memories came back to him and the cut on his cheek burned as if it wanted to remind him that it was still there. And it was irritating as hell. 

“Hmpf, great,” he mumbled. If he had any good mood left before, now it disappeared completely. Farrel hadn’t seen what happened after he was shot down, but he did hear the sound of a Ranger’s bow, so Berrigan had to come just in time to save both him and Lynn! He seriously needed to thank his friend for saving his life. The Rangers rarely offered their thanks, but Berrigan seriously deserved that. 

“Speaking of the devil,” he smirked, as he saw how the door opened. Berrigan was both surprised and happy to see the grin on Farrel’s face. A smile of his own spread on Berrigan’s face as he fought to contain his excitement. Farrel was alright-ish and he would recover, that was the best news of the day!

“Long time no see,” he joked as he came closer and sat down on the bed. In his hands, he had a bowl with warm water (that he refilled since tending to Tess’ injuries, mind you) which he placed on the nightstand as well as the salve and new bandages and looked at Farrel. He was awake, but in pain, a lot of pain. He could clearly see it on his face. However, there wasn’t much he could do about the pain. The only thing he could suggest was to get some more sleep. It couldn’t hurt when you were unconscious. 

“He got you pretty bad, huh?” Berrigan demanded. His friend touched his right cheek, feeling the bandage. Again, he grimaced as his brain registered the pain. He glanced at his fellow Ranger with a silent question conveyed by his eyes.

“If you want to know, it’s this long,” Berrigan said, drawing a line on his own cheek. Farrel looked at it and knew that he would have a long scar for the rest of his life. Not that he minded having a scar. He knew it was a part of this job. He knew it from the moment he had been chosen as an apprentice. Inevitably, someday, the pain would come. He came to terms with that a long time ago.

“Yes, that bastard surprised me at the last moment. I was able to get her out of the way, but I’m glad you showed up in time to save us. And, not to forget, cured my wounds.” To his surprise, his friend laughed. Farrel furrowed his brows. Instantly, he sensed that something was wrong. He didn’t like it at all. 

“Berrigan, why are you laughing?” he demanded, not prepared for the answer. 

“Because,” his friend said, his light tone changing into a serious one now, “it wasn’t me who saved your ass, nor did I take care of your wounds.” 

He slightly nodded to his left and, through the open door, the Caraway Ranger could see the Dutch girl, fast asleep on the couch. His eyes widened as he put the puzzle pieces together. However, he couldn’t believe it. The girl… who had been so afraid of him all the time?

“Are you telling me…” he started and looked his friend in the eyes. 

Berrigan’s smile confirmed his suspicion. 

“It wasn’t me, but Lynn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda long wait but the Exams are over (for a month) and this chapter is almost 20k words long to make up for it ;)


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